okay. good morning to you. i'm robin meade. thanks for being a part of our family. today the nation pauses to remember a dark day in history. and to honor the victims of the september 11th attacks eight years later. buying a car there gm, may be like shopping at the mall, is asking a no questions asked return policy. is there a catch? plus -- head speaker nancy pelosi's head spinning. >> lie, lie, lie. >> two words. a political firestorm.

the insults shot at president obama is a huge hit on the internet. first, today we relive the shock and sadness of one of the worst days in u.s. history. exactly eight years ago, the september 11th terror attacks rocked the nation. nearly 3,000 people died. a day of remembrance but for the first time it's also a national day of service. there will be thousands of volunteer projects including preparing packages to send to the troops. but an important part of the day is remembers what happened eight years ago near the world trade center aside. a memorial begins at 8:40 a.m. eastern. vice president joe biden will be there. and a bit later been a ceremony at pentagon with the president and robert gates and former secretary of state, colin powell will be at a memorial in shangsville, pennsylvania. on wednesday, president obama will update us on the financial crisis. a year to the day of the lehman

brothers collapse. the president will talk about what's been done to ease is crisis and how to keep it from happening again. but tim geithner warns, there's no quick fix. >> i think the u.s. financial system today is in substantially stronger shape than it was three months ago, six months ago and nine months ago and on the aefr of this recession. it will take a while to get through this but it will take longer because we're doing it right. >> it's not clear if president obama will talk about new policies on mopped's speech. one dose of the swine flu vaccine may be strong enough. scientists thought adults needed two. a study now says up to 96% of adults vaccinated should be protegted with a single dose. and it kicks in within just ten days. these are people getting the remember flu shot. prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the former sunday schoolteacher accused of

killing an 8-year-old girl. melissa huckaby kidnapped and killed sandra cantu. in april the girl's body was found inside a suitcase at the bottom of a pond and huckaby pleaded not guilty in a hearing again yesterday. if "cash for clunkers" didn't get you to buy a new car gm is driving home another offer. our money expert is here. you get to treat the car like a new dress. you try it on and bring it back if you don't like it. >> you can't wear a dress for two months and bring it back. >> that's true, although some stores have a return policy of 90 days but you have to have the tag on it. >> i would hope nobody was wearing it out there. this is a big deal for gm. if you buy a gm between next monday and the end of november, if you don't like it, you can take it back within 60 days of driving it off the lot. all your money back, gm says, no questions asked. obviously that's a marketing

gimmick. what gm wants to do is drum up interest after "cash for clunkers" is over and they want to fight the opinion a lot of people think they wouldn't be satisfied with the gm. but we'll see. maybe that's something that could work. it seems like a risk for them, robin. a pree car for two months? >> when you drive off the lot the depreciation is huge. >> so gm is the one taking the risk. >> okay. thank you. a community group, get this, at the center of voter registration controversy last year. it faces a new scandal this morning. a.c.o.r.n. has fired two employees caught on tape allegedly giving tax advice to a couple, posing as a pimp and a prostitute. on the tape an a.c.o.r.n. employee tells the alleged prostitute to list her occupation as a performist artist. they say this is a case of

"gotcha" journalism. you'll hear that the filmmakers tried the stunt many more times. and details on the conservative activist who posed. the south carolina republican who shouted "you lie" said he did not plan the outburst. representative joe wilson denied speculation that he might have planned to disrupt the president's health care speech to congress. >> when it was stated that it wouldn't apply to illegal aliens i just -- i just couldn't -- i truly had to speak out. >> did you snap? >> no, no. i didn't snap. it wasn't premeditated? >> i didn't snap if i napped i would have kept on objecting but i didn't. >> now, wilson shouted after president obama said the illegal immigrants would not get free health care under the white house plan.

wilson has since apologized. did the president lie? a review by our sister network, cnn, shows he did not but shows the president's plan could force illegal immigrants to buy health coverage but they'd have to pay. but republicans say illegal immigrants could end up getting federal subsidies because they say that there are not enough requirements to verify somebody's citizenship. the shuttle "discovery" crew has a plan and a backup plan to try to get home today. they'll try to land at kennedy space center before 6:00 p.m. eastern. if the bad weather prevents that like yesterday, they'll head for edwards air force base in california. a seven-member crew is returning from a 14-day mission at the space station. voices dropped today. can you tell? >> it's friday. >> it's friday. the more tired you get the deep you are your voice is. isn't that the case?

>> we had a book opening yesterday. >> i'm driving myself crazy because on amazon.com you can check out by the hour how your book is doing. >> don't do that to yours u.s. >> let me show you what's going on right now. as for the shuttle landing, it will be about a 50/50 shot because we have rain coming in later this afternoon and that will afegt cape canaveral. the other thing is an area of low pressure in a new tornado watch that's out there for jersey and parts of delaware. let me zoom in toward the area with the delaware radar and you can see the heavy squalls going through south jersey. the orange boxes are severe thunderstorm warnings and winds around cape may are around 60 miles per hour. no tornado warnings that i see but rain showers at times, mainly southern jersey shore and rain scraping along long island area getting back toward new york and winds will be gusty today as well. we'll see a lot of problems with coastal flooding and the

advisories, philadelphia, about 1 or 2 inches of rain. a flood watch for you guys. pulling away, things will dry out over the weekend. over the next 48 hours, probably sunday you tart to dry out. look at the rain piling it on around new york city, jersey and philadelphia. the yellow shading is 2 to 3 inches of rain. tough going especially at the airport. more showers around alabama stretching to georgia and then the beneficial rain continues for lower parts of texas. we're talking about san antonio, austin, houston, flash flood watches. we haven't seen these for a long time. speaking of a lot of rain, video from arizona, south of flagst f flagstaff, three inches of rain with thunderstorms developing over the mountains. that's northern arizona with the monsoonal moisture in place and it's still there today. more thunderstorms developing with that afternoon heating.

more on that, robin, in half hour. not every two for one deal sounds good. owners of a pizza joint are shocked they have to foot the bill on an surgery for an employee. a couple fell into dire straights because of bernie madoff's ponzi scheme. now a bank executive is accused of taking advantage of their misery and partying at their beachhouse. walmart checks other stores' prices so we can save on all our game time favorites. and if there is a better price out there, they'll even match it. which means come game time... ...i'm just as ready as he is. game time costs less at walmart.

save money. live better. walmart. - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper? oh! tada! fantastically tasty, huh? ummm, it's good. what would you guys like? hamburger helper. what?! one pound... one pan... one tasty meal!

let's salute our troops. today's salute is from a mom not just one child in the military but two sons serving right now. >> good morning, robin. >> caller: i'm donna pots and i'd like to salute my two sons, curtis and cody pots. curtis is in the u.s. navy on a six-month deployment. cody potts is in the u.s. army on a year deployment. cody is our studious child and he knows more facts than anybody

could imagine. i'm so proud of both of you and love you dearly and miss you greatly. >> i love the pictures the parent choose, what a great message. if you have somebody in the service let us help you salute them. cnn.com/robin. a new scandal for a community group at the center of a voter registration controversy last year. a.c.o.r.n. fired two baltimore employees caught on tape allegedly offering advice on how you set up a prostitution ring and avoid the irs at the same time. they allegedly gave that advice to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute. correspondent richard luis, did they say they had underage girls working for them? >> conservative activist, he posed with his partner, an a.c.o.r.n. spokesman saying filmmakers unsuccessfully similar stunts at a.c.o.r.n.'s offices in philadelphia, los

angeles and new york. our sister network, cnn tried to reach o keafe and he was not available. so that tape is edited. we have to point that out. it goes to black in some areas. a.c.o.r.n. says the trail is false and it's defamatory. and there are questions about whether the video would hold up in court. >> law enforcement officials say under maryland law the undercover video may not be admissible and the a.c.o.r.n. representative told the "baltimore sun" didn't know they were being taped and the filmmakers misrepresented their intentions. yesterday they questioned the times of the tape's release. >> the president gave a speech on health reform. that tape was done some time in july and just released today. >> and she adds here the fired employees were seasonal parttime workers who were not authorized to act on a.c.o.r.n.'s behalf, robin. >> richard, thank you.

a man who spent 26 years behind bars is now free. and it turns out he never should have been in prison. how he finally got his freedom. that's new for you in less than 30 minutes. people who live near a foreclosed home in malibu say a bank executive made it her personal party house. jennifer is here. nothing illegal about it? but taking advantage of someone else's misfortune is unethical? >> what do you make of the story. the idea is there's a bank executive. she's partying in a $12 million malibu beach house after the owners lost the home to foreclosure. the owners were devastated and bernie madoff's massive fraud scheme. they had to hand over the house. now neighbors are telling the associated press that a wells fargo executive has been staying over. long weekends. throwing parties. having guests. wells far two tells the ap they

will conduct a thorough investigation. she was supposed to be overseeing house. >> here's some good news in a bad economy. stocks on another winning streak the dow rallied 80 points to top 9600 at the closing bell with gains every day this week. five trading day the in the row for major indices. where you see them they are all at highs for 2009 so far. and that's even though it's september, which is historically an awful month for stocks. so far, though, it has been pretty kind. and quickly, the white house says the stimulus plan is taking some credit. they say it created a million jobs so far, boosted the nation's gdp and stopped the freefall in the economy that started last year, according to the president's council of economic advicers. you may expect to hear those themes when the president speaks on monday from wall street. critics point out the jobs' market has lost millions of jobs since the beginning of this year and unemployment is still

rising. not so fast they say, with the credit. new developments on the gender controversy. we've got more. >> good morning. track officials say the results are in from the extensive gender test done on 800 meter caster semanya. i'm your only employee. we're gonna start using fedex to ship globally-, that means billions of potential customers. we're gonna be huge. good morning! l... you know business is a lot like footb i just don't understand... i'm sorry dick butkus., (announcer) we understand. you want to grow internationally. fedex express of calcium and vitamin d. that's where their favorite cereals can help. general mills big g is the only leading line of kid cereals

that has calcium and vitamin d. help them get more of what they need with general mills kid cereals.

the scenes are becoming familiar but they are never getting old. memorial ceremonies will be held this morning in new york, washington and pennsylvania. i think what we're trying to say is, the scenes are familiar but it is still so raw eight years later on the eighth anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks. on hln we'll bring you live pictures throughout the morning. it is the eighth anniversary and there are a lot of memorials going on so we'll take you there and also, cover other news. about a third of americans believe that another act of terrorism is likely soon in the united states. that's according to a new cnn opinion research poll. the number is about half of what it was shortly after 9/11. a majority of people in the new poll are confident that the obama administration can keep the united states safe. a pizza shop has to pay for a cook's weight loss surgery! so another operation on a work-related back injury will work? that's from an appeals court in indiana. the employee's 340 pounds.

the shop's attorney asked the court to hear the case again. an offshoot of the aclu say bosses may think twice about hiring people with health conditions because of this. now, track officials urging caution regarding a report saying a south african sprinter is both a man and a woman. what are you supposed to do with that information? this is regarding the runner who was running as a woman. and they decided to do gender test on her. >> right. >> good morning, robin. the gender test results are in. and cnn questioned the officials. there was a report in both australia and a british newspaper that says the results say caster semanya, her gender is both male and female. she has both male and female organs but a track spokesman said, yeah, we got the results but i have not seen them and those reports need to be treated with, quote, caution. he's not confirming or denying it. experts will look over the results before they talk with

semanya and a decision is not expected to come until november. but regardless of whatever the results are, they are saying she will likely not be stripped of her medals since it's not an issue of cheating. and the nfl season is officially here. and thousands of relationships across america are suffering because of it. the super bowl champion steelers hosting tennessee and, boy was it a great game. tied at 10 with a few seconds left, ben rothlisberger hits hines ward and he fumbles it. tennessee gets it so we go to overtime. and after big ben leads them down the field, kicker, jeff reid gets the game winner. the steelers win but they were victims of the dreaded curse. this story will get you. a high school baseball coach was fired after police say he admitted hiring strippers for two 17-year-old players. albuquerque's school stan mckeaver said he made a poor decision but doesn't think he

should be fired. he told investigators, quote quote -quote -- >> that's what i'm saying with. and how tweet it is. lance armstrong continued his tour in l.a. hundreds of people rode through griffith park a day after lance tweeted, hey, l.a., get out of your cars and on your bikes. time to ride tomorrow at the zoo parking lot. see you. he thanked the lapd for accommodating the ride. hundreds of people got there. >> he's loving the tweet. thank you. i wonder if this is trying to get people to be more foot or a big ego boost. you can tweet and thousands of people show up. >> i thought you were talking about the coach with the strippers. it may be -- >> in poor taste. >> i would have batted .675 that year, just joking. if you're doing travel, thunderstorms coming in across

philadelphia. heavy winds around nyc. here's newark, laguardia, jfk covered up with rain and heavy downpours around philadelphia. new york, philadelphia, d.c., dallas, shouse there. dallas, shouse there. storms. we'll have more bl"morning t express" in just about two minutes. we can do the small things, the big things, just about everything... right inside your gm dealership. find out more at goodwrench.com. - oh, come on. - enough! you get half and you get half. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-tzu? - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) joint custody. - phew! - announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

that the bank of america really has the market cornered on. let me make it easier for you. let me show you how i can make it easier for you. we have the number one rated online banking website. it has an alert system that can text message you, so you're mobile banking, your bank's telling you, what your current balance is., it's telling you if a certain check is cleared. customers that use the internet, use online banking. it all kind of falls in with what you're doing, and it's free. you can pay all your bills online,, customers can save tons of time. we have great new image atms. it will give you a receipt which has a copy of the check you deposited. deposit cash, any denomination you don't even have to count the cash, just put it in there. let it do the work for you. and they can have those deposits posted to their account the same business day up until 8 o'clock. you're in control of your finances., now when you talk about convenience,, you measure us up to everyone else. well, you'll see we stand ahead of the curve., gm drivers..

it's goodwrench & go time. three great services: all in one place. all at one time. all for one price for most gm vehicles. but it's only for a limited time. at participating gm dealers.

you would hear at playground. jeanne moos reports on the heckle heard around the world. >> we cannot tell a lie. but we sure can talk about one. >> you lie. >> you lie. >> you lie! >> it's the urban dictionaries word of the day. >> did you see the part where can guy said "you lie?" >> i was like, what? >> a mere two words were all it took to get a reaction. >> you lie? >> oh, i thought that was dreadful. >> the reforms improposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. >> it had speaker nancy pelosi's head spinning. >> you lie! you lie! you lie! >> within hours you could order

a "you lie" tie or a "you lie" cap. turned the south carolina republican congressman who yelled it into a hero to some. joe wilson for president. but among those we talked to -- >> i think it's disgusting. >> really totally disgraceful. i just came out of the gym and we were talking about it in the loom. >> but "you lie" is a love tap in countries where politicians play "hardball." and opposition laughs out loud at the british prime minister. >> and we not only saved the world -- saved the bank -- and led the way. >> critics of joe wilson are laughing. they set up a website called "joe wilson is your pre-existing condition.com" aimed solely at hurling imaginary insults to the congressman. we did find one obama supporter who came to wilson's defense. >> it's about freedom of speech. i think that we live in a country where you can say what you want to say and --

>> freedom of speech. yeah. won't stop you from talking. >> even argued over the apology. >> you don't think i should apologize to you for interrupting you? >> yes. no, i do. >> why? >> because it's rude. >> "you lie" strikes us as kids' stuff as in the movie here. do you think it's okay that they said that to the president? >> you should expect him. >> we expect, he meant, respect. >> it's not very pretty at all. >> there's been so much criticism that joe wilson's website has crashed. his phone is constantly busy but we've got a ring tone that's right up his alley. cnn, you lie! new york. you know we know that ellen degeneres loves to dance on her talk show but the music behind the moves may get costly. the show has been hit with a lawsuit. not ellen! palpapa

it's been about a year since the financial crisis kicks in and affected so many of us. president obama will tack it will subject on monday when he talks about what's being done to resolve the crisis now and how to prevent such a thing from happening again. one dose of the new swine flu vaccine may be strong enough to protect you. a study by u.s. and australian researchers say up to 96% of adults should be protected with a single dose. scientists thought adults might need two. the shuttle "discovery" will try to land around 6:00 p.m.

if bad weather prevents that, they will head for edwards air force base. the seven-member crew is coming back from a 14-day mission at the space station. those are headlines this morning. good morning. as the alarm clock rings. hope you're feeling more awake than i do. i'm robin meade. it was eight years ago today, obviously, you remember exactly where you were. what you were doing. when you first heard the u.s. has been attacked. today the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 are being honored. and for the first time, it's also a national day of service. there will be thousands of volunteer projects including preparing packages to send to the troops. but, again, an important part of the day is remembering what happened. near the world trade center site a memorial begins at 8:30 a.m. eastern. and vice president joe biden will be there. a bit later a ceremony at the pentagon with president obama and defense secretary robert gates. and former secretary of state, colin powell will be at the memorial in shanksville, pennsylvania. we'll take you live throughout

the morning. top democrats may oppose sending more troops to afghanistan. senator carl evans says he wants afghan security forces beefed up first. house speaker nancy pelosi says the president will face opposition if he wants to build up u.s. strength in the country. >> i don't think there's a great deal of support for sending more troops to afghanistan. in the congress. >> well, u.s. military officials have repeatedly said that the situation in afghanistan is getting worse. and that the u.s. may need more troops there. a community group accused of telling a couple how to set up a prostitution ring and avoid the irs. well, that group is at the center or was at the center of a voter registration continueer is si last year. a.c.o.r.n. says it's fired two employees in baltimore caught on tape. allegedly giving advice to a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute. correspondent is digging up details. we have tape, too. >> we have details.

conservative activists and filmmakers posed as the pimp and prostitute you're talking about. the video was originally posted on the website biggovernment.com and on that site giles wrote wrote -- and a.c.o.r.n. says the filmmakers unsuccessfully attempted similar stunts at a.c.o.r.n.'s offices in philadelphia welcome los angeles and new york. our sister network, cnn tried to reach them. they were not available for comment and giles cancelled an interview scheduled for yesterday. >> and a.c.o.r.n. faced another controversy just two days ago into we'll get into that one. a.c.o.r.n. turned in 11 of its own workers in miami. the court documents showed the police issued arrest warpts for 11 people accused of submitting false voter registration cards. they noticed irregularities in forms they receive.

the case involves about 880 fraudulent voter cards. >> it's important the public understands it had nothing to do with voting. these people did not vote or go to the polls to vote. they were not sent any absentee ballots. they were lists of people who they say, basically, these hourly workers say they were recruiting to register to vote. >> some conservatives have accused a.c.o.r.n. of fraud and voter registration bribes around the country during the presidential election. they say the florida case proves the group is committed to an honest process. robin? >> a lot of back and forth there. some big name record companies are suing the ellen degeneres show for using more than a thousand songs, it says, without permission. many play during the part where she loves to dance through the audience. the suit does not involve ellen personally. we'll point that out. a spokesperson for the show say they've been trying to work with the record labels to resolve the issue.

a florida man spent 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. anthony caravella was convicted of rape and murder at the age of 15. dna evidence and new witness testimony prove he's innocent. yesterday the 41-year-old walked out of the prison for the first time since he was a teenager. >> i'm happy to be out. >> what do you think of the job your attorney did? >> i know if hadn't of been for her none of this would have ever happened for me. >> and your brother, too, right? >> my brother. >> you feel better? >> bitter? >> no, not at all. >> sorry, got something in my throat. the first thing he did was visit his mother's grave. she started the process of getting him exonerated but she died eight years ago. what would you do? >> what a story. >> what would you do. >> poor guy. >> 35 minutes past the hour.

another rainy morning in the northeast. so let's find out who's getting hit today. it's the same spot as yesterday but this time heavier and in fact, a tornado watch for most of south jersey toward delaware until noon today. notice the circulation on the radar. you see the low level low moving inland toward the dover, delaware area getting near cape may. heavy squall lines north of there and some could rotate. that's why we have a tornado watch. no warnings but we have severe thunderstorm warnings for cape may toward atlantic city. winds have the potential of gusting to 60 miles per hour or over. so it's a rock n' roll type of morning. south jersey toward philly. look at heavy rain around island beach state park. and then it will dry down a bit. farther north you're getting brushed with rain around long island and back toward new york city and winds will be stiff today. right now winds gusting in central park to 24 miles per

hour. it's a tough one for your commute. airplanewise and roadwise, the whole nine yards. areas in light green and darker green, flach flood watch. look at heavy rain coming in near philadelphia and new york over the next 24 to 48 hours. that's about two to three inches of rain. so it's going to be a soggy start. and by sunday it will work back offshore. so thing at least after the weekend should be dry. look at the rain coming through alabama and stretching through georgia. some will get to atlanta. taking you live to atlanta. low clouds to start up the morning once again. watch for delays first part of the day with some showers coming in and maybe a thunderstorm. the high? 80 degrees in atlanta but that's about all we're going to see. we'll have more details coming up, robin in a bit. texas is getting much-needed rainfall. maybe one to two inches from san antonio to awe sin over the next few days. great news for them. >> can the ground soesh it up quick enough? >> for the most part it can.

but by brownsville it could come down heavier. so flash flood watch for brownsville. >> thanks. this is my favorite story because this could affect any of us. if you're looking to rent a home, make sure you do your homework. for the rest office who have a house, listen! there's a new warning about an internet scam. they are second would-be runners, knocking at people's doors of houses that aren't even on the market. thinking they are moving in! woman: two things we love to share in our house?

football and farm rich cheese sticks. well, try to share at least. announcer: with unbeatable prices onbarm rich cheese sticks-- game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. game time costs less at walmart. ♪ ♪ which one's me - for a cool convertible or an suv? ♪ too bad i didn't know my credit was whack ♪ ♪ 'cause now i'm driving off the lot in a used sub-compact. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free credit report dot com, baby. ♪ ♪ saw their ads on my tv ♪ thought about going but was too lazy ♪ ♪ now instead of looking fly and rollin' phat ♪ ♪ my legs are sticking to the vinyl ♪ ♪ and my posse's getting laughed at. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free- credit report dot com, baby. ♪

hey, good morning. and let's look at the morning papers together. we did the homework for you. from "the washington post" d.c. is set to become a

battleground over same-sex marriage. the d.c. council is a step closer to legalizing it. the measure would have to be reviewed by congress before becoming law. usa today says the iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then president bush last year will be showered with gifts when he gets out of jail. this will probably happen on monday. he'll get a four-bedroom house and one potential bride. from "the new york times," a reliable arctic shortcut for commercial cargo ships can be one of the benefits of global warming saving thousands of miles over other routes between asia and northern europe. and quick check of a look at the papers. two atlanta area teachers are accused of soliciting prostitutes on craigslist to spice up their sex life. our affiliate, wsb reports the two are dating. one is a band teacher and the other is a chorus teacher saying they were arrested in a police sting. prosecutors say they offered $200 to two women that were

undercover cops. one pleaded not guilty and to the waived her court appearance. i don't know, i just see "saturday night live" doing that one, don't you? imagine someone shows up at your door and says, hey, we've got a big chunk of money to rent the house that you own. or worse yet, show up with their boxes knocking on the door thinking, hey, this is the new home i'm renting. but you're in there. you live there. you've been scammed. our money expert jennifer is looking out for you. that's frightening. so anyone can in that's hour and they are thinking their safe. >> this is happening all across the country. scammers are out to cheat you. watch out. the better business bureau is warning it's happening a lot and the bad guys are using technology, too. craigslist. online classified ads. you can look at online pictures. you can google maps and check it

and think, yeah, this is the house. you might even drive by and then they say, wire us the money and they even send you some keys. not necessarily to the house. just keys. to something. you know? and you can show up to find out there's a family living there and it's their house. so these are some of the flags that you want to look for. if the rental price is too good to be true. it probably is. if they want a huge deposit up front, because they are planning to take the money and run. if they want the money wired. that's not usually the way real estate transactions go. if the landlord isn't local. there's often landlords that aren't local but when you put all these things together you got to be careful. have the landlord take you over to the house and verify that it's empty. here's some numbers that spell out the recession's real impact on americans. the poverty rate rose to its highest in 11 years according to the latest census bureau, almost 40 million people in this country who are living in

poverty and what's poverty? a family of four living on less than $22,000 a year. and not only about poverty, but health insurance, too. with the job market in such trouble, people lose their jobs and you can keep your health insurance. the number of americans with no coverage is up to 46 million people! robin? back to you. >> thanks so much. a man is celebrating his golden anniversary of working under the golden arches. meet the guy who calls himself "the clean-up man of mcdonald's."

i don't think i'm overspeaking here when i say the memories of 9/11 are still as clear as if the attacks happened just yesterday. for most of our viewers here. today, it's the eighth anniversary and this is a live look this morning at the site. memorial services are going to be held this morning in new york, in washington, in

shanksville, pennsylvania. on hln we'll be showing you different live pictures from the various sites. and the various memorials throughout the morning. certainly think about the victims' families. and the heroes of that day. you might think a job at a fast-food restaurant temporary thing. but one man has been on the job at the same mcdonald's for 50 years! he started working at the mcdonalds in presswood, missouri, when he was 18 years old, the same year mcdonald's opened its 100th restaurant. a lot of things have changed. >> when i started it was 15 cent hamburgers and it got more and more and more. and -- >> they got better and better and better, i was told you'd say. >> yeah. >> people know you work another mcdonalds? >> yeah.

15 cent hamburgers! are they even a dollar yet? >> some are 99 cents. >> with the rate of inflation we're okay. the nfl season got under way by first honoring the relatives of the 9/11 victims. so here's more on the video. >> it was a very moving tribute. the pittsburgh steelers did a nice job of recognizing the family members of passengers who died in flight 93 that crashed on september 11th. you might remember flight 93 crashed 65 miles east of pittsburgh as passengers fought to control gain of the plane so family members stood on the field wearing number 93 jerseys. and if they were steelers fans they were treated to a great game. they beat tennessee and pittsburgh wins, 13-10. but the team was a victim of the dreaded curse, shall we say. you may not need to see this. s that defensive safety with a

nasty injury. a sprained acl. he'll be out three to six weeks. why is this significant? he was on the cover of "madden" and in the last nine years, every single player that's ever appeared on this cover has either missed games because of injury or because of ineffectiveness. every single year for nine years! >> the madden curse. and the greatest basketball player that ever lived will be honored in the hall of fame today. michael jeffrey jordan brought fans to the game and numbers we had never seen before doing things on the court. we had never seen before. this man brought the game to a level of artistry and it's fitting that the ceremony will be so popular that they are moving it to a bigger venue to the hall of fame. twice the size because so many people want to see it. >> does anybody else have the impression -- my impression was he's only now going to the hall of fame? >> there's a certain amount of time that has to pass before retirement. >> if he retired earlier he would have got none sooner.

time for our true champion and this week it's a 13-year-old cancer survivor, jody lawrence. designed the paint job to have nascar driver's carl edwards' car and they unveiled it inyeah edwards, and there's the car, and she designed it and she was an honorary pit crew member as well. the girl was diagnosed with a disease at age 11, just five days after her mother died of diabetes, leaving her orphaned. she's being raised by her sister, but the whole experience has really boosted her spirits. that's sports. >> look at her jump in the car. that's great. nice job. i was abandoned at hospital number 20 at birth. i was adopted at 11 1/2 months old. >> the first time we saw alex, he was malnourished. fell in love with him immediately. i said, there's my son. that's my son. >> hospital number 20 gave me a chance to survive and i wanted

to give something back. i'm alex griffin and i'm building a playground at the hospital where i was adopted from. everyone get in place. i've been a boy scout for 12 years. i wanted to build a playground for my eagle project. all the playgrounds at hospital number 20 had a rough field with a wooden seat and a sand box which was essentially a mud pit because of all the rain. we had to design the playground. these are the double-glide slides. then we ordered the playground and then built it. volunteers from all over the world helped me build this playground. all of us adopted from russia have not and probably will never forget it. >> translator: i like the playground, because when you slide on it, all the sadness goes away. >> makes him very proud.

ahhh. time to get the latte budget under control. mm-hmm. [ female announcer ] trying to be smart with the family budget? here goes the good old steam. [ pfffft! ] whooa!!!! [ female announcer ] let bounty help... because it cleanthe mess with less than the bargain brands. it's thick and absorbent. and really durable. in lab tests bounty absorbs twice as much as the bargain brand. [ steam hisses ] why use more when you can use less? bring it. with bounty. the thick quicker picker-upper. and try bounty napkins. now with new prints. need a lift? hey buddy, i appreciate the ride, you know. no problem. ♪ mind if i take a shortcut? yeah, sure. ♪ i knew the subaru legacy was the smart choice...

what i didn't expect... was the fun. the all-new subaru legacy. feel the love. - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper? oh! tada! fantastically tasty, huh? ummm, it's good. what would you guys like? hamburger helper. what?! one pound... one pan... one tasty meal!

discover gives you a cash back bonus on every single purchase. what you do with it is up to you. what will you get back with your cash back? it pays to discover.

the stock market can get confusing if you don't know where to invest your funds, but hln money expert clark howard tells you how to make money without the hassle. >> i want you to know something, i am obsessed with something known as index funds. how could somebody be obsessed with something like that? i mean, it's a thing. well, it's a good thing for you. what's an index fund, anyway? it's where, instead of you buying an investment, individual stock or buying a mutual fund where some brain yack tries to figure out what to buy, what to sell, how much of it to get. in an index fund, it's really simple, you just buy all the big companies in the country. there would be 500 of those. or you buy what's known as the total stock market, which is generally considered to be thousands of companies, where

you have little slices and dices of them. the advantage of an index fund? well, you don't need a brainiac to figure out what to buy and sell. they just buy everything. so your charge and management fee's tiny. but here's the big news -- new report from the "wall street journal" finds that for bonds, 90% of the time an index fund will beat a manager. for stocks, 60% of the time. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to pack a punch in your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> so, he's the guy to teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. it was raining spam in seattle because of the inaugural spam mash-up! several people wearing ponchos took a hammer to the canned luncheon meat. a local marketing agency wanted to raise awareness about spam and other junk e-mail, spam of the other kind. the group claims that businesses lose billions of dollars in

productivity because of internet spam. oh, we didn't see the smash! >> who was that, gallagher? >> hi, bob. >> what's up, robin? so, jennifer came into my office, said am i going to get to philadelphia today? the only place with a delay, robin, right now, is philadelphia, and it's for 2 hours and 45 minutes. >> rain. >> it's rain and it's wind and it's thunderstorms. it's going to be there for the morning. the delay technically ends at about noon today, starts at 8:00 this morning. i think it's going to get extended. here's what we have for the rest of the day then. new york city met rose, same thing, winds, rain in and out. watch for an hour or more delay. philadelphia, yours starts at 8:00 a.m., lasting through noon, 2 hours, 45 minutes. d.c. metro, same pattern, wind, rain coming. in and dallas, you're also looking for showers and thunderstorms today. watch for an hour or more delay there as well. we'll have full details on the weather and a look at the northeast powerhouse storm in a couple minutes. >> thank you. the numbers are still just haunting. nearly 3,000 people killed at

the world trade center, 184 at the pentagon, 40 in shanksville, pennsylvania, today. medicare.

it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider... an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by united healthcare insurance company. it can help cover some of what medicare doesn't... so you could save up to thousands of dollars... in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit... and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare, you should know about this card; it's the only one of its kind... that carries the aarp name -- see if it's right for you. you choose your doctor. you choose your hospital. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't cover. save up to thousands of dollars... on potential out-of-pocket expenses... with an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan...

insured by united healthcare insurance company. call now for youfree information kit... and medicare guide and find out... how you could start saving. welcome this morning, as you wake up, it's 7:00 eastern. i'm robin meade. the nation pauses to remember a dark day in our history today and to honor victims of the 9/11 attacks eight years later. buying a car from gm may be like shopping at at mall, but it's actually offering a no questions asked return policy. what's the catch here? and yesterday, a man walked out of prison after serving 26 years for a crime he did not commit. hear what finally cleared him of a rape and murder conviction. first, though, today, we relive the shock and sadness of one of the worst days in u.s.

history. exactly eight years ago, the september 11th terror attacks rocked the nation. nearly 3,000 people died on this day eight years ago. now it's a day of remembrance, but for the first time, it's also a national day of service. there will be thousands of volunteer projects, including preparing care packages for the troops. but again, an important part of the day is obviously remembering those who died on this day eight years ago. near the world trade center site, a memorial begins at 8:40 a.m. eastern. vice president joe biden will be there. later, a ceremony at the pentagon with president obama and defense secretary robert gates. and former secretary of state colin powell will be at the memorial in shanksville, pennsylvania, and we will see those live throughout the morning. you'll see them right here. in other news, the south carolina republican who shouted "you lie" to president obama wednesday night said he did not plan the outburst. in an interview with wvoc radio,

representative joe wilson denied speculation that he might have planned to disrupt the president's health care speech to congress. >> when it was stated that it wouldn't apply to illegal aliens, i just -- i just couldn't -- i truly had to speak out. >> did you snap? i mean -- >> no, no, i didn't snap. >> it wasn't premeditated. >> no. i didn't snap, either. because if i snapped, i would have kept on objecting, but i didn't. >> well, wilson shouted just after president obama said that illegal immigrants would not get free health care under the white house plan. wilson has since apologized. so, we'll talk about whether what the president said was factual. a review by our sister network cnn finds that the president did not lie. it shows the president's plan could force illegal immigrants to buy health coverage, but they'd have to pay for it. some republicans, though, still say that illegal immigrants

could end up getting federal subsidies. that's because they say that there are not enough requirements to verify someone's citizenship. just one dose of the new swine flu vaccine may be strong enough to protect you. scientists thought that adults needed two, but a study by u.s. and australian researchers says that up to 96% of adults vaccinated should be protected with a single dose, and it kicks in within ten days. now, these are the people getting the regular flu shot, by the way, which you would also need. if cash for clunkers didn't get you to buy a new car, get this, gm is driving home another office. our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. it's like trying on a dress, you try it on for a while and take it back. although this is better. >> it is a marketing gimmick, clear and simple. a bold one, though. if you buy a gm between next monday and november, you have 60 days to take it back, all your money back, no questions asked. that's what they're saying is

their promise. gm wants to drum up buyers after cash for clunkers is now over and it also wants to fight the popular opinion that you might not love your gm. robin, back to you. >> okay! i wonder how that's going to work out for gm. >> seems like a big risk, because you're right, you mention before, those cars lose a lot of value once you drive them off the lot. if you drive them in, definitely cheaper. >> we'll see how it works. i guess they're banking people are going to love the car so much. all right, thanks. prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a former sunday school teacher accused of killing an 8-year-old girl. police in california say that melissa huckabee kidnapped and murdered sandra cantu, one of her daughter's playmates. in april, the girl's body was found inside a suitcase at the bottom of a pond. huckaby pleaded not guilty again in a hearing yesterday. a well-known community group is accused of telling a couple how to set up a prostitution ring and cheat the irs. acorn has fired two employees caught on tape allegedly giving

advice to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute. the tape was made by two conservative activists. on the tape, an acorn employee tells the prostitute to list your occupation instead of the performance artist. acorn, you might remember, was at the center of a controversy about voter registration last year. now, coming up, you are going to hear the group's accusation that the filmmakers in this case tried the same stunt many times before. and plus, details on the conservative activist who posed as the pimp and a prostitute. the shuttle "discovery" crew has a plan and a backup plan trying to get home today. they're going to try first to land at kennedy space center in florida. that's going to be just before 6:00 p.m. and if bad weather prevents that, like it did yesterday, they're going to head over to edwards air force base. that's in california. the seven-member crew is returning from a 14-day mission at the space station. five minutes after the hour. okay, it is a friday. for a lot of you, you like to

just get through your work day and start your weekend. who has the trouble spots? hi, bob. >> yeah, there's a bunch of them. there's actually three huge areas we're watching right now, robin, with big-time storms. number one, new york city metro areas, philadelphia. two is houston through san antonio, now harking in towards dallas with much-needed rain, indeed. but you get up north, check out the stuff headed towards minnesota out of the dakotas. that's a cold front swinging on by. could get some severe thunderstorms there first thing for the day there, too. but we have one tornado watch, and that's in effect for much of the jersey shore, south jersey, in towards delaware, and you can see the streamers of rain coming in with the low-level circulation just offshore from basically cape may. look at the squalls coming on in right here. they stretch all the way back in towards areas around the jersey shore. one severe thunderstorm warning for atlantic city down through cape may, and that's because you're going to see winds there gusting about 60 miles per hour. heavy rain around the shore, going all the way in towards new york city. stiff east wind right now. new york reporting a wind with

20-mile-per-hour gusts around central park. for that reason, the rain, the wind, high surf advisories in the blue shaded areas and coastal flood advisories for the coastal shore of philly. trying to good in or around philadelphia today, you'll find problems. look at the wind jostling that camera around. poor visibility, heavy rain right now. you'll see one to two inches of rain just today alone. in fact, that's starting 8:00 this morning. philadelphia, the airport will have a 2 hour, 45-minute delay that lasts through at least noon. we'll have full details on that airport travel. it's going to be a bad day. more in just a bit, robin. look at philadelphia. man, it is soggy. >> did you say right now it's a 2 hour and 45-minute delay? >> 8:00 and goes through noon today. >> so, heads up, folks, as you're getting ready for your weekend travel. >> yep. not every two-for-one deal is a good deal. a pizza place will have to foot the surgery for one of its employees. we'll have more on that story. if you're renting a home, do

your research well, because there is a warning about an internet scam sending would-be renters to homes that are not for rent. t e blue carpet for drivers of these great gm brands. we can do the small things, the big things, just about everything... right inside your gm dealership. find out more at goodwrench.com. this bar is an excellent source of fiber. there's no fiber in this. tastes too good. there is fiber. [ chuckle ] no. i can't taste the fiber in this chocolate. they have 35% of your daily value. hmm. oh, samples. hmm. autobahn. wackenschdol. fiber one chewy bars. cardboard no. delicious yes.

gm drivers.. it's goodwrench & go time. three great services: all in one place. all at one time. all for one price for most gm vehicles.

but it's only for a limited time. at participating gm dealers. aww, baby, you're so tired. let me try to wake you up. it is nine minutes after the hour. let's salute our troops right now. today's salute is from a mom who has not just one child in the military, but two sons serving. >> good morning, robin. my name is donna potts. i would like to salute my two sons, curtis and keyed potts. curtis is in the u.s. navy on a six-month deployment. curtis is a prankster. he loves life to the fullest. cody potts is on a geared deployment and curtis knows more facts than anyone could imagine. i love both of you dearly and miss you greatly in mesquite, texas. >> i love the pictures the mom chose. thank you, donna, appreciate it.

if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin. time check, ten minutes after the hour. a new scandal for a liberal community group that's been at the center of a voter registration controversy. well, acorn fired two baltimore employees. they were caught on tape allegedly offering advice about how to set up a prostitution ring and cheat the irs. now, they allegedly gave the advice to a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute. and i don't know how this story could get worse, but correspondent richard lui, they also claim that they had like underaged women working for them. >> it doesn't seem real. here's more details. the video evidently shows a couple asking for advice on how to set up a prostitution ring, as you're talking about, with underaged girls. and despite that rather outrageous front, james o'keefe, acting as the pimp, and hannah jiles, acting as the prostitute, allegedly got surprising advice from the acorn employees. on the tape, one employee apparently tells jiles to call herself a performing artist on tax forms and that she can claim

some of the girls as dependents to receive child tax credits. now, the other worker allegedly told the couple to keep the kids clean, robin, as well, and make sure they go to school. >> wow. but that's not the end of the story. >> no, it's not. >> we should point out, the tape is edited. it goes to black in some areas. acorn says that the trail is false, it's deflamatory. who are the two behind the undercover video, then? >> robin, conservative activists and filmmakers. acorn markets is saying these filmmakers misrepresented their intentions and the employees did not know they were being taped. yesterday, another acorn representative said the fired workers were seasonal, part-time, and were not authorized to operate on acorn's behalf and also questioned the timing of this tape's release. >> the president gave a speech on health reform. that tape was done some time in july and just released today. >> now, law enforcement officials say under maryland law, robin, the undercover video may not be admissible in court

for evidence, but quite a story. >> richard, thank you so much. jerry seinfeld's wife writes a cookbook. it is a top seller, yadah, yada, yada, well, it led to a lawsuit and up next, why jerry's jokes are not helping. my book is officially out in book stores today. actually, it's out yesterday, but you can find it right now. it is called "morning sunshine: how to radiate confidence and feel it, too." now, in the book, you're going to find confidence-boosters like do an honest self-appraisal. write down the things you're really good at and therefore should feel really confident about, lots of other stories and tips, too. but let me ask you. let's share. how do you maintain your self-esteem? let's help each other here. go to cnn.com/robin, click the e-mail link inside the contents box and i love the i-reports, too. we'll announce a winner during the 9:00 a.m. eastern hour. you get a copy of the

autographed book and the grand prize winner wins a trip to atlanta so we can meet you. so, it's just full of good stuff. i've been driving myself crazy because on amazon.com, you can check to see how your book is doing by the hour. what about now? and now? too much information! >> yeah, exactly. imagine someone shows up at your door, and they say, we've got a big chunk of money to rent the house that you own. you own that house. it's a scam. our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. so, how do you know if you're looking to rent a home that you're about to be cheated? >> yeah. you've got to be really careful. i think a lot of people think, well, with the internet, they can skip some of the steps, but when you skip steps, scammers can take advantage of you. the better business bureau is warning, they are out there, criminals looking to cheat you. it's happening across america and they're using things like craigslist and online classified ads. so, you could look at the home online, you can check on google maps to make sure it's the right

home. you might even be able to drive by and really think, okay, well, i've got nearly all the bases covered, so you wire some money. they even maybe mail you some keys, and then you go and find out there's a family living there. this person was never connected to that home at all. so, some of the red flags are, look at the rental price. if it's too good to be true, it probably is. if they want an outrageous deposit up front, something may be wrong there. be careful if the landlord is not local. it's not necessarily a problem, but it could be. and whenever you hear with money the word wired, they want you to wire the money, my ears always perk up there. what's that all about? because then you can't get your money back. all right, let's get you some good news in a bad economy. stocks on a little bit of waning streak here. they're not huge rallies, but the dow up another 80 points last night, taking it to 9,600, more than that at the close. that's its best close so far this year, and it's the same story for the dow and the nasdaq and the s&p 500. so, that tells you there's a little bit of confidence back

and it's good for your retirement plan. all right, maybe you're in the airport right now thinking about traveling this morning. apparently, if you're heading anywhere near philly, you and me are both in a lot of trouble. hey, bob. >> i felt bad. she asks me how philadelphia is, because you're flying there today. >> yes. >> 2 hour, 45-minute delay starting now for philly, laesionz through noon. so the flights later this afternoon may break up a bit, but laguardia is now also on a delay for 66 minutes, through noon as well. here's the reason why. a big area south. notice the range. it's coming in off of the atlantic. it's also windy, low clouds. that's why you have all the delays out there. so, new york all the way down in towards philly, d.c., you'll see over an hour-long delay. dallas will get delays as well. boston, atlanta, miami, shorter delays, but same deal, storms with some rain. and maybe fog-related delays around chicago, midway and o'ha o'hare. houston, minneapolis, rain and storms again. more on that in a bit. police say a high school baseball coach told them, hey,

he was just trying to be cool when he hired strippers for his players, but he claims he shouldn't have lost his job over it, just a few singles.

hi, may i help you? we're shopping for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button. can i try that? [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today. if you look on the calendar, you will recognize the date today. the emotions are still raw, the memories are as clear as the day the 9/11 attacks happened.

ceremonies will be held this morning in new york, washington and shanksville, pennsylvania, on the eighth anniversary of the terror attacks. now, here at hln, we will bring you live pictures throughout the morning and we'll look at some of the remembrances taking place, but we'll also cover the other news of the day, like this. you know, about a third of americans believe another act of terrorism is likely soon in the united states. that's according to a new cnn opinion research poll. that number is about half of what it was shortly after 9/11. a majority of people in the new poll are confident that the obama administration can keep the united states safe. a new, unmanned rocket is on its way to the international space station. japan's space agency launched it yesterday. now, the rocket has 4 1/2 tons of supplies on board, including freeze-dried food, bread and soap. japan is scheduled to launch an unmanned rocket every year for the next six years. get this, a pizza shop has to pay for a cook's weight loss

surgery so that another operation on a work-related back injury is going to work. well, that's from an indiana appeals court. the employee's 340 pounds. the shop's attorney asked the court to hear the case again. an off-shoot of the aclu says the boss is thinking twice about hiring people with health conditions because of this ruling. reports say that a south african sprinter is both a man and a woman, but track officials are saying, hold on a minute here. rafer with more on the sprinter that had to go through some gender tests. >> yeah, robin, and apparently, those tests are in from that investigation. we're talking about south african sprinter cast or santa monicaa, but a british newspaper citing anonymous resources show that the runner has both female and male organs.

when cnn questioned track officials about this, they would not confirm nor deny it and said to use caution regarding those reports. they say a decision won't come until november, but regardless, they say she will likely not lose her medals, since this would not be an issue of cheating. the nfl season is here and thousands of relationships across america are suffering because of it. super bowl champion steelers hosting tennessee, and boy, what a game it was. tied at 10-10 with just a few seconds left. hines ward catches a long pass from roethlisberger, looks like he's going to score, but no, no, no, he fumbles the ball, tennessee recovers and we go to overtime. big ben leads them down the field in the extra period, jeff reed has the winning field goal. they were victims of the dreaded madden curse. we'll explain in the next half hour. a high school baseball coach was fired after admitting to hiring strippers for two 17-year-old players. the coach says he made a bad decision but shouldn't be fired. he told investigators "i just thought it was an innocent thing

to do that would keep them happy. i was trying to be a friend, be their buddy, be cool." a man spends 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. hear what he had to say moments after he was let out. (announcer) romano's macaroni grill has a way to get things cooking..... at home. they're macaroni grill dinner kits, the restaurant favorites that'll ignite your senses. you get thpasta, special sauces and seasonings. add your grilled chicken, cook for 20 minutes then top with our cheeses. for a meal that'll make any night feel special. romano's macaroni grill dinner kits. the restaurant favorites that let you.... stay in, and go all out.

from happening again. treasury secretary timothy geithner warns that there is no quick fix here. >> i think the u.s. financial system today is in substantially stronger state than it was three months ago, six months ago, nine months ago, and on the eve of this recession. this is going to take a while to get through this, and it's going to take longer to do it because we're going to do it right. >> what's not clear is if president obama will announce any new policies during monday's speech. the leaders of south carolina's republican party are asking governor mark sanford to resign. a two-thirds majority voted yesterday to ask sanford to step down. he's been under fire for having an affair with a woman in argentina and possibly using state planes for personal travel. sanford says that it's unfair to condemn him before a state

ethics probe is complete. >> if you go this route, what you're doing is you're setting up a kangaroo court where -- and you frankly ought to just base the thing on media headlines, with all due respect to media headlines, or you ought to just base it on political opponents' accusations. >> well, the south carolina gop issued a reprimand against the governor in june, but this vote takes that one step further. you know, it didn't take long for the late-night shows to jump on the "you lie" controversy. remember, a republican congressman shouted that during the president's health care speech on wednesday? well, here's a tape from last night. >> after joe wilson's outbreak last night, everyone's shocked, because usually when someone makes a fool of himself, his name is joe biden, but even vice president biden said he was embarrassed by wilson's behavior. this is joe biden we're talking about. if joe biden says it's embarrassing, it's really embarrassing!

joe biden saying it's embarra embarrassing is like an australian bartender saying you've had too much to drink! >> republican congressman joe wilson's apologized for calling president obama a liar during his speech on health care. yep. obama accepted wilson's apology, then invited him to appear before a death panel. >> all right. jerry seinfeld could pay for a joke that he made about the woman who sued his wife. yesterday, a judge tossed out the woman's plagiarism's suit over jessica seinfeld's cookbook, but the judge didn't throw out a defamation suit against the comedian. now, the woman's name is missy chase lapine, and he compared her to assassins like james earl ray because they have three names. he says, joking. you know, ellen degeneres loves to dance on her talk show, but the music behind those moves may get costly. the show has been hit with a lawsuit. ÷

it has been about a year since this financial crisis kicked in and started to affect so many of us. president obama is going to tackle that subject on monday. he's going to talk about what's been done to resolve the crisis and how to prevent such a thing from happening again. the shuttle "discovery" will try to land at florida's kennedy space center at 6:00 p.m. eastern. and if bad weather prevents that like yesterday, they'll head for edwards air force base in california. the seven-member crew is returning from a 14-day mission at the space station. just one dose of the new swine flu vaccine may be strong enough to protect you. a study by u.s. and australian

researchers say that up to 96% of adults should be protected by a single dose. scientists did think that adults could get two. those are some of the headlines we're following on a sleepy friday for you. good morning, i'm robin meade. we always appreciate your time. eight years ago, you remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard the united states was attacked. today the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 are being honored, and for the first time, it is also a national day of service. there will be thousands of volunteer projects, including preparing packages to send to the troops. top democrats may oppose sending more troops to afghanistan. senator carl levin says that he wants afghan security forces beefed up first. house speaker nancy pelosi says that the president will face opposition if he wants to build up u.s. strength in that country. >> i don't think there's a great deal of support for sending more troops to afghanistan in the

country or in the congress. >> now, the u.s. military officials have repeatedly said that the situation in afghanistan is getting worse and the united states may need more troops there. a well-known community group is accused of telling a couple how to set up a prostitution ring and avoid the irs! acorn says that it's fired two baltimore employees who were caught on tape allegedly giving advice to a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute! correspondent richard lui, this is not the first time that we've heard of this group, obviously. >> that's right. the group made headlines last year, as you might remember, when some conservatives accused acorn of voter registration fraud to push the election in then senator obama's favor. and then, just two days ago, florida police arrested six acorn workers suspected of submitting false information on voter registration cards in. if florida. 11 are accused in this case. acorn officials triggered that investigation itself after noticing irregularities in forms they received. >> it's important that the

public understands, nothing to do with voting. these people did not vote. they didn't go to the polls to vote. they weren't sending any absentee ballots. these were simply lists of people who they say, you know, basically, these hourly workers were saying that they were recruiting to register to vote. >> acorn officials say the florida case proves that the group here, robin, is committed to an honest process. >> so, richard, tell us about the activists who were the ones posing as the pimp and the prostitute in the video. >> what we know about these two right now is they're conservative activists and filmmakers, james o'keefe and hannah jiles, peace as the pimp and prostitute you were talking about. it was originally posted on biggovernment.com, and on that site, jiles wrote -- "we came off as troubled, torn, innovative and devoted individuals who couldn't skirt the system unless the system helped us along our journey." acorn says that the filmmakers, by the way, unsuccessfully attempted similar attempts at offices in philadelphia, los angeles and new york. our sister network, robin, cnn,

trying to reach o'keefe and giles. o'keefe was not available and giles canceled an interview scheduled for yesterday. >> all right, richard, thank you. we'll be looking for a follow-up on that one. florida's new senator has been sworn in and is ready to start his 16-month stint in washington. vice president joe biden administered the oath of office to george lemieux. governor charlie crist picked him for republican mel martinez's seat, who left office early. that choice drew criticism. some see lemieux as a placeholder until crist runs for the seat himself. a new beach is at the center of a court battle in california. for 30 years, people have been getting naked at san onofre beach. it's also a state park. and now rangers are trying to enforce a ban on nudity. they say complaints are on the rise and the nudists are suing. >> after 30 years, it's completely wrong, unconstitutional, and i'll be

here to fight it and protest it. if they say it's illegal, i'm going to be here. >> a state judge will make a final decision soon. all right, some big-name record companies are suing "the ellen degeneres show" for using more than 1,000 shows without permission, you know, on the dancing part. many were played when she dances through the audience. the suit does not involve degeneres personally. the record company says they asked the show's producers why they didn't get licenses and were told "we don't roll that way." a show's spokesperson says they've been working with the record labels trying to resolve the issue. it had to have been -- >> we were just talking about this yesterday, too. >> it had to have been someone not experienced in talking to lawyers. that's the way we roll. >> hey, that's how we roll, big whoop. that doesn't really fly. >> that's not going to cut it in a court of law. >> really doesn't fly. >> good morning, bob. >> what's up, robin? this weather brought to you by fiber one. across the region, a big travel day, getaway friday, also the events planned this morning

around new york city. rain, wind is going to be out there for the day. so, here's what it looks like. low pressure just off the jersey shore. look at the heavy squalls moving in on the north side of that rotation and then getting in towards philadelphia, wrapping around through delaware and maryland. heavy downpours are here, also a tornado watch. that's a red watch box. haven't seen a tornado warning right now. that's great news, but the severe thunderstorm warning is still out there. ocean city in towards atlantic city, getting back in towards southwestern jersey. these squalls are coming in off the atlantic with winds gusting to 60 miles per hour. so, that's a main threat right now, and again, have not seen the tornado warning, but the watch goes until noon today. look at the way it goes right across south jersey. here's the jersey shore. you can see laviolette towards sea side park, battered with heavy downpours. it lets up a bit by sandy hook and picks up again just offshore from long island, and that's going to stretch on down the liee, getting in towards regions -- or the lirr. it's going to be in there. rain showers as well in towards manhattan. at nyc, traveling up here, winds

will be gusting out of the east today to near 30 miles per hour. last i looked, central park had a wind gust of 24 miles per hour, so, not that bad. but the rain is definitely there off and on for most of the day with heaviest rain falling down shy of the city. back to the pictures, coastal flood advisories, jersey shore. we also have a flood watch. when you get towards philadelphia, that will be there for the morning. heavy downpours will be there today, tomorrow, by sunday finally pulling offshore. more on that coming up in a bit. >> okay, thank you. a couple fell into dire straits because of bernie madoff's ponzi scheme. now a bank exec's accused of taking advantage of their misery and partying at their beach house. wow, is this... fiber one honey clusters? yes. it's delicious. delicious. i know./ but it can't have... can't have about half a day's worth of fiber? i assure you it does. i was expecting... expecting sawdust and cardboard? i know. i can only taste... only taste the crunchy clusters,

honey, and brown sugar. no madam, i don't have esp. ok. i'll take a box, but you probably already knew that. (announcer) fiber one. cardboard no. delicious yes.

♪ two atlanta area teachers are accused of soliciting prostitutes on craigslist to spice up their sex life. affiliate wsb reports that the two are dating. one's a band teacher, the other's a chorus teacher. it says they were arrested in a police sting! prosecutors say that they offered $200 to two women who were actually undercover cops. one pleaded not guilty. the other waived her court appearance. nasa says its first test of a powerful, new moon rocket yesterday was a huge success. the aries rocket was strapped to the ground so that engineers could test its engines. now, it is more powerful than the shuttle's solid rocket boosters. right now, there is not any certainty that a launch will happen. the white house committee says

there isn't enough money to try it. a florida man spent 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. anthony caravella was convicted of rape and murder at the age of 15, but dna evidence and new witness testimony prove that he's innocent. yesterday the 41-year-old walked out of prison for the first time since he was a teenager. >> yeah, i'm happy to be out. >> what do you think of the job you're returning to? >> i know if it hadn't been for her, nothing of this would have happened to me. >> and your brother, too, right? >> and my brother. >> do you feel bitter at all? >> bitter? no, not at all. not at all. >> the first thing that he did was visit his mom's grave. she started the process of trying to get him exonerated, but she died eight years ago. people who live near a foreclosed home in malibu say that a bank executive made it her personal party house! our money expert jennifer

westhov westhoven. so, is that illegal or just unethical? >> we don't think so, but you know, it's like a dream house. people lose it, and then somebody's in there partying? what do you make about this story, if you're watching? a bank executive, $12 million malibu beach house. its owners lose the home to foreclosure. they were devastated in bernie madoff's massive fraud scheme. they had to hand over their house. then neighbors tell the "associated press" that a wells fargo executive, who is supposed to be overseeing the house, was staying over, having guests, throwing parties, long weekends. it's a gated community. wells fargo tells the "ap" it will conduct a through investigation. just doesn't feel right, you know when you think of all these bank executives doing well even as people are struggling. these are numbers that really spell out the recession's tough toll on many americans. so, it's kind of like, you know, what's so, what's really happening because of what happens with the economy. the poverty rate rose. it's at its highest in 11 years.

almost 40 million people are living in poverty in this country. and if you lose your job, of course, it is hard to hold onto your health insurance, so we're seeing a rise in the number of people who don't have health insurance. it's up to 46 million people, and those numbers come from the latest census tally. robin, back to you. >> all right, thank you. okay, it was raining spam in seattle because of the inaugural spam smash-up. several people were wearing ponchos and they took a sledgehammer to the canned luncheon meat. i guess they didn't want to get splashed. a marketing agency wanted to raise awareness about spam and junk e-mail, so the other kind of spam. businesses lose billions of dollars in productivity because of internet spam. i just want to see if this person actually -- huh. all right. a man celebrating his golden anniversary of working under the golden arches -- this is the guy. meet him who calls himself the cleanup man of mcdonald's. úx

you know, eight years ago today, tragedy hit the united states like never before. nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. a memorial service in new york starts in the next hour. these are live pictures today. here on hln, we're going to bring you the live pictures of the memorials. we will also show you services later on in the morning in washington and shanksville, pennsylvania. certainly, our minds are with the victims' families and the heroes as well. it was a bumper crop, but this harvest won't be going to the market. drug agents cut down more than 150,000 marijuana plants in the rugged hills of northeastern tennessee yesterday. now, they say the plants are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. they were first spotted from the air wednesday. no one's been arrested, but investigators are working on it. a man named joe wilson -- oh, no -- had his facebook page bombarded by angry people after

president obama's speech on health care. thing is, he's not the joe wilson who is a congressman from south carolina, he's a candidate for a judge in washington state. wilson used his campaign kickoff to set the record straight. >> i'm just going to say, i'm not joe wilson from south carolina trying to steal the boeing company or call names to the president and i'm not joe wilson the ambassador. i'm just joe wilson running for judge here in snohomish county. >> wilson also said any exposure he can get for his campaign, hey, it's a good thing. looking at it the right way. you may think of a job at a fast-food restaurant as something temporary, but one man has been on the job at the same mcdonald's for 50 years. leonard rhomberg started working at mcdonald's in crestwood, missouri, since he was 18. a lot has changed since then. >> back when i started, there were 15-cents hamburgers, and gradually got more and more and more, and --

>> reporter: got better and better and better i was told to say. people know you work at mcdonald's when you walk into a room. >> yeah, especially a dog. >> he even stuck around after his party to clean up. his own party! sweet. that's sweet. the nfl season got under way by holding -- it first honored relatives of the 9/11 victims. so, here's rafer with more on that. good morning. >> good morning, robin. you know, it was a very moving tribute by the pittsburgh steelers. the team recognizing the family members of the passengers who died when flight 93 crashed on september 11th. in that crash, as you may remember, it happened just 65 miles east of pittsburgh, as passengers fought to gain control of the plane. family members there standing wearing number 93 on their jerseys. then they were treated to a great game, if you're a steelers fan. the super bowl champs hosting tennessee won in overtime on a jeff reed field goal, as pittsburgh wins 13-10. but the team, however, was

stricken by the dreaded madden curse. if you're squeamish, you need to look away. we can show it right there, ahh! star defensive safety troy polamalu with a nasty injury, a sprained ncl. he'll be out for three to six weeks. why is this significant? polamalu was on the cover of "madden 2010." every player in the past nine years to appear on the cover either missed games or was banned because of injury. and the greatest basketball player that ever lived will be honored in the hall of fame today. michael jeffrey jordan brought fans to the game in numbers never seen before and did things on the court we had never seen before, and his ceremony today is going to be so popular that they will have to move it to an even bigger venue than the hall of fame. very fitting. and lastly, it is time for our true champion of the week, and this week, it is 13-year-old cancer survivor jody lawrence. this young girl designed the paint job for nascar driver carl edwards' car, unveiled at

atlanta motor speedway this week. there's edwards there on crutches. she was the honorary pit crew member. there's the car right there. very nice job on that. this poor girl, though, was diagnosed with the disease at age 11, and five days after that, her ha's a look at sports. she's getting in the car. >> she did a great job. good for her. thanks. why did you say carl edwards was on crutcheses? >> he broke his foot in a frisbee accident. >> carl, not doing his back flips. >> no. he couldn't do one if he won. some women thought they were auditioning for a reality show. in reality, they were being held captive? new for you in 40 minutes, what prompted women to raid a house where the women were being held. first, a new boy has a special place in a family. landis was born on wednesday,

september 9th. so 9/9/09. get this, his older sister was born june 6th of '06, 6/6/06. >> i didn't think about it really much until the nurse said earlier, she was, like,9/9/09. oh, my god, it's backwards, 6/6/06. i don't know. coincidence. >> mom and the baby are doing just fine. that poor kid is going to hear that her whole life. you were born 6/6/06. tough you day to travel for you. delays for the rest of the day, they're already there for newark and laguardia, over an hour. it will last all afternoon. philadelphia, 2 hour 45 minute delay right now, will last all afternoon. it's over an hour right now. looking at d.c. metro, you'll

see delays, same with atlanta and dallas. more in a bit, rob. what provoked that republican lawmaker to shout "you lie" during the president's pooe health care speech. you're about to hear from him. it hard to breathe. but now that i'm breathing better with advair... i can enjoy the zoo with my grandkids. (announcer) for people with copd including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both, great news. advair helps significantly improve lung function.

while nothing can reverse copd, advair is different from most other medications because it contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help you breathe better. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. we had a great day, grandpa! we sure did. ask your doctor how advair helps improve lung function for better breathing. (announcer) find out how to get your first full prescription free at advaircopd.com.

getting him out. rescuers had to use special breathing gear to get into the hole. the man was taken to a trauma center. his condition is not known this morning. the stock market can get confusing if you don't know where to invest your funds, but hln money expert clark howard tells you how to make money without the hassle. >> i want you to know something. i am obsessed with something known as index funds. how could somebody be obsessed with something like that? it's a thing. well, it's a good thing for you. what's an index fund anyway? it's where instead of you buying an investment, individual stock or buying a mutual fund where some brainiac tries to figure out what to buy, what to sell, how much of it to get, in an

index fund, it's really simple. you just buy all the big companies in the country. 500 of those. or you buy what's known as the total stock market, which is generally considered to be thousands of companies where you own little slices and dietss of them. the advantage of an index fund? you don't need a brainiac to figure out what to buy and sell. you just buy everything. what you're charged in management fees, tiny. here's the big news. new report from the "wall street journal" finds that for bonds 90% of the time an index fund will beat a manager. for stocks, 60% of the time. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to pack a punch in your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark's the guy to teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch him noon eastern saturdays and sundays right here on hln. if you wonder what the papers are saying this morning, wonder no more. here we go, from "the washington

post," d.c. is set to become a battleground again over same-sex marriage. the d.c. council is a step closer to legalizing it. the measure would have to be reviewed by congress before becoming law. u"usa today" says the iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at president bush will be showered with gifts when he gets out of jail, probably monday. he will get a four-bedroom house and at least one potential bride. the. from the "new york times," a reliable arctic shortcut for commercial karg gee ships could be one of the benefits of global warming. it saves thousands of miles over other routes between asia and northern europe. those are the papers. you know, renters across the country are getting ripped off for thousands of dollars. now, we're looking out for you about the warning signs for a new scam homeowners, you could be hit, too. ppppgpgpgzx

good morning on a friday morning. i'm robin meade. thank you so much for choosing us as your source for morning news. in about 40 minutes we'll have this morning's memorial at the world trade center site as the nation remembers 9/11 eight years ago. we will bring you live pictures all throughout the morning. just like the one you're seeing here. and we've got a warning for you about a new scam. it could have some angry people banging on your door. and there's been a surprising turn of events in the gender test of a world-class sprinter. that's a story you want to want to stick around for. this morning we relive the

shock and sadness of one of the worst days in u.s. history. eight years ago the september 11th terror attacks rocked the nation. nearly 3,000 people died. this is a day of remembrance now. but for the first time, it's also being made a national day of service. there will be thousands of volunteer projects, including preparing the care packages for the troops. it appears we already have a number of mourners gathering this morning in new york city. again, an important part of that day is remembering what happened eight years ago. in just more than a half hour, a memorial begins near the world trade center site. vice president joe biden will be there. next hour, a ceremony at the pentagon with president obama and defense secretary robert gaebts. next hour, former secretary of state colin powell will be at the memorial in shainkzville, pennsylvania. you will see these live throughout the morning. because we're "headline news," hln, we'll also get you

other headlines of the day like this one. just one dose of the new swine flu vaccine may be strong enough to protect you. scientists thought that adults may need two, but a study by u.s. and australian researchers said that up to 96% of adults vaccinated should be protected with a single dose. and it kicks in within just ten days. these are people getting the regular flu shot, which by the way you would also need. a well-known community group is accused of telling a couple how to set up a prostitution ring and avoid the irs. a.c.o.r.n. has fired two employees caught on tape allegedly giving advice to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute. on the taip, an a.c.o.r.n. employee tells the prostitute to list her occupation as a performan

performance. details on the conservative activists who posed as a pimp and prostitute. a south carolina republican who shouted "you lie" to president obama wednesday said he did not plan the outburst. in an interview, representative joe wilson denied speculation that he might have planned to disrupt the president's health care speech to congress. >> when it was stated that it wouldn't apply to illegal aliens, i just, i just, i just couldn't, i truly had to speak out. did you snap? no, no, i didn't snap. it wasn't premeditated. i didn't snap either. i just because if i'd snapped i would have kept on objecting but i didn't. >> he shouted just after president obama said illegal immigrants wouldn't get free health care. wilson has apologized. what about the validity of what the president said?

a review by cnn said that the president did not lie. it shows the president's plan could force illegal immigrants to buy health coverage. they would have to pay for it. some republicans, though, still say that illegal immigrants could end up getting federal subsidies because they say there aren't enough requirements to verify somebody's citizenship. imagine someone shows up at your door and maybe they've got a box of stuff, knock, knock, knock, they're ready to move in. but this is your house. well, they've been scammed. maybe you have, too. our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. if you're going to rent a house, how do you know you're not being cheated? >> you know, i think that some people think, you know, in this new age of technology and krez list, for example, that they can skip a few steps and that can end up with you getting cheated. you know, scammers know about craigslist, too. the better business bureau is putting out a big alert saying, across america this is

happening. bad guys are using online classified ads to trick people out of their money. so you could be looking to rent, you'll see online pictures. you might even think you did your homework. you can check the address on google maps, make sure it's the real house, maybe drive by. then you wire some money, keys come in the mail. then you find out there's a family in that house. that house was never for rent and your money is gone. these are red flags you can look out for. there's some reason why the landlord can't show you the property. that's weird. also, if the rental price is too good to be true. if they want a big deposit up front. if the landlord isn't local or only talks to you via e-mail, watch out. you should smell something fishy. robin. >> thank you for the heads-up on that. this happening everywhere, huh? >> yep. >> thank you. the shuttle "discovery" crew has a plan and backup plan to get home today. they're going to try to land at florida's kennedy space center just before 6:00 p.m. eastern. if the bad weather stops that like yesterday, they'll head for

edwards air force base in california. the seven-member crew is returning from a 14-day mission at the space station. philadelphia is not going to be a fun morning rush for you. bob will show you why. good morning. >> morning, robin. they're getting blasted right now, wiheavy rain, wind. d.c. through philly to new york city, look what's happening here. the red watch box, also a tornado watch. that goes until noon today. the reason why is there's a low pressure center right at the surface, just off of cape may. heavy rain, if you live toward philadelphia, you know it's coming down and it will be steady for at least the next three or four hours before it breaks up a bit. a severe thunderstorm warning so far, no tornado warnings around atlantic city. back on in towards ocean city, too, jersey side. you get get up toward seaside

park, vacation destinations killed with heavy downpours. breaks up a touch you when you get toward sandy hook. new york city, more light rain showers coming in. heavy downpours off of long island. it will all stretch inland over the next couple of hours. that's one place we're definitely going to watch for batd weather. more showers coming in around central alabama, moving toward atlanta. you have a ground stop in atlanta hartsfield-jackson airport because of the low clouds and light rain because of the weak impulse. then decent rains coming in now. this stuff is all beneficial. south texas, san antonio, corpus christi to brownsville. look what we have now, flash flood watch for all of dallas toward ft. worth and all around the region. flash flood watch for brownsville. haven't seen that for quite some time. an exceptional drought right now for southern texas. over the next couple of days, two to three inches of rain in pockets will fall. real quick, south of flagstaff yesterday, sedona, arizona, look

at this, three inches of rain out of one thunderstorm alone, flash flooding. they had that as a result. it was just outside of flagstaff. monsoonal moisture in place. more for you today as well. more in about a half hour, robin. >> poor folks. you know what? my book is officially out 00 now. it's called "morning sunshine how to radiate confidence and feel it too." hopefully it will help you as well. in the book, it's got revealing stories -- i'll tell you that much -- little confidence boosters, nuggets, takeaways. i think it's pretty user-friendly. how do you you maintain your self-esteem? i want to know that about you today. go to cnn.com/robin, send your tips. or an i-report. we'll announce today's winner during the 9:00 a.m. eastern hour. if you're the winner, you will get a free autographed copy of the book. the grand prize, though, is a trip to atlanta so we can all meet you. good luck.

not every two for one deal sounds good. owners of a pizza joint are shocked they have to foot the bill for an extra surgery 0 for one of their employees. right now you're looking at the world trade center site as we remember the september 11th attacks eight years later. goodwrench... we roll out the blue carpet for drivers of these great gm brands. we can do the small things, the big things, just about everything... right inside your gm dealership. find out more at goodwrench.com. if you're using other moisturizing body washes, you might as well be. you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, almost as if you're wearing it. only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin.

( music throughout ) hey bets, can i borrow a quarter, sure, still not dry? i'm trng to shrink them. i lost weight and now some clothes are too big. how did you do it? simple stuff. eating right and i switched to whole grain. whole grain... studies show that people who eat more whole grain tend to have a healthier body weight. multigrain cheerios has five whole grains... and 110 calories per lightly sweetened serving. more grains. less you. multigrain cheerios.

gm drivers.. it's goodwrench & go time. three great services: all in one place. all at one time. all for one price for most gm vehicles. but it's only for a limited time. at participating gm dealers. all right. let's salute our troops today. today's salute is from a mom who has not the just one child in the military but two sons serving. >> good morning, robin. my name is donna potts. i would like to salute my two sons, curtis and cody potts. curtis is on the u.s. navy on a similar six-month deployment. cody potts is in the u.s. army on a year doueployment.

cody is our studious child. i'm so proud of both of you and love you dearly and miss you greatly. >> i love the pictures that mom chose there. maybe you have somebody in the service you want to salute. we want to help you. cnn.com/robin. a well-known community group is accused of telling a couple how you set up a prostitution ring while evading the irs. a.c.o.r.n. says it has fired two baltimore employees caught on tape allegedly giving advice to a couple who were posing as a pimp and a prostitute. correspondent richard lui is digging up the details. my word, good morning. >> the worm hole goes deeper. what we hear according to the video, the couple asks for advice on how to set up a prostitution ring with underaged girls and despite that rather outrageous front, james o'keefe, acting as the pimp and hannah giles, acting as a prostitute allegedly got surprising advice. one a.c.o.r.n. tells giles to

call her a performance artist on tax forms and she can claim some of the girls as credits to receive child tax credits. while the other worker allegedly telling the couple to keep the kids clean and make sure they go to school. >> instructions on how not to raise suspiciouses of other people. >> exactly. >> that tape we need to point out is edited. it goes to black sometimes. a.c.o.r.n. says the portrayal is false and inflammatory. what about the two behind the video? >> they are from what we hear conservative activists and filmmakers. an a.c.o.r.n. spokesman telling them that the filmmakers misrepresented their intentions and the employees didn't know they were taped. yesterday another representative said the fired employees were seasonal part-time workers not authorized to act on a.c.o.r. a.c.o.r.n.'s behalf. they also questioned the timing of this tape's release. >> the president gave a speech on health reform. that tape was done sometime in july and just released today.

>> finally for you here, law enforcement officials say under maryland law, the video we've been showing may not be admissible in court. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. if cash for clunkers didn't get you to buy a new car, gm is trying to drive home another offer. jennifer westhoven is all over it. it's unusual because they're letting you treat your car like something you bought at the mall basically. good morning. >> good morning. in a way it's like you could get a free car for two months. i'm not saying you should do that. but this is a marketing gimmick. >> did you notice the music even stopped? she did not! >> but it's a marketing gimmick by gh. what they're saying is if you buy a gm between next monday and the end of november, if you don't love it, you can bring it back within 60 days. all your money back. no questions asked. so, look, here's the thing. gm are taking a risk.

why are they? they want to drum up business after cash for clunkers, also fight the notion that you might not be satisfied with your gm. they've got a whole marketing campaign kind of based around this. by the way, you can't bring it back if you put more than 4,000 miles on it. you can't drive to alaska and then florida and then try to bring the car back. here is good news in a bad economy. it may be good for your retirement. stocks on a winning streak again. the dow rallied 80 points, closed just above 9600. that's every day this week stocks have nailed gains here. all the major indices at their highs for 2009 so far. that's even though it is september, which traditionally can be a very ugly, fearful month for stocks. so far it's been okay. >> right. kind of bucking the trend. we've got the results of the south african sprinter's gender test. remember this story? i've got to tell you the story just keeps getting, well, i don't know, stranger and stranger. you're looking at the world trade center site this morning

as we remember the victims of 9/11 eight years ago to the day. ♪ the pictures are gonna be great! with unbeatable prices on tresemmé tres two hairspray beauty costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart.

you're looking at live pictures this morning as the flag outside the capitol in washington, d.c., is at half-staff this morning on 9/11, the anniversary. and the emotions are still raw and the memories just as clear, aren't they, as the day the attacks happened. ceremonies are being held this morning in new york, the picture you're seeing there at ground zero, in washington, and in shanksville, pennsylvania, on the eighth anniversary. on hln, we'll be watching the ceremonies, bring you live pictures as we also bring you headlines throughout the morning. about a third of americans believe that another act of terrorism is likely soon in the united states. that's according to a new cnn opinion research poll. that number is about half of what it was shortly after 9/11, though. a majority of the people in the poll are confident that the obama administration can keep the united states safe. reports say that a south

african sprinter is both a man and a woman, but track officials are saying, hold on a minute with that. here's rafer with more on the gender test. remember on the sprinter from south africa. >> and the test results apparently are in. but the track officials are not revealing the results of that test. however, robin, two newspapers, a british newspaper and australian newspaper, both say that the results of that test show that this woman here, caster, has both male and female organs. cnn spoke to track officials who could not confirm or deny this and said to use "caution regarding those reports." they say a decision won't come until november but say she will not likely lose her medals since either way they say it's not an issue of cheating because she didn't choose her biology. we'll see what happens. the nfl season is here, and thousands of relationships are suffering as a result of that.

the steelers hosting tennessee. what a game. it was tied at 10 with only seconds left and pittsburgh heinz warder catches a long pass. it looks like he'll get it down to the end zone but he fumbles it. now overtime. after big ben roethlisberger, jeff reed kicks a game winning field goal. steelers won 10-7. fell victim to the madden kours. a high school baseball coach was fired after he admitted hiring strippers for two 17-year-old players. the coach said he made a poor decision but doesn't think he should be fired. he told investigators -- >> i can't believe that. wow. >> let that sink in. how tweet it is. lance armstrong continued his twitter tour. hundreds of people rode through griffith park, a day after he tweeted, l.a., get out of your cars, get on your bikes. l.a. zoo parking lot.

see you there. and then thanked the riders and the lapd for accommodating them. if you don't mind, robin, i need to get back to my reading, which this is a very fascinating book. >> i didn't know you were going to do that. >> very interesting book. this came out, by the way, in case you haven't heard. >> thank you. >> very good. is that a big fat hint that you guys want free copies? >> yeah, i do. >> i'm the author. i have exactly one. >> we'll fight over it. >> it's available in bookstores everywhere. hi, bob. >> the only advice i can give rafer is, get some confidence, dumb-dumb. >> maybe that should be the title, confidence for dummies. >> philadelphia, your delay keeps growing. it's just shy of four hours, will last for the entire morning, into the afternoon. the reason why? all the rain in the region. almost a four-hour delay in philadelphia, laguardia about 66 had-minute delay. currently 70 minutes in newark.

it will only grow from there. more in a bit. >> thank you. messages on one guy's facebook page say shame on you for yelling at the president. but he just happens to have the same name as representative joe wilson, the guy who went "you lie." why he says, you know what? it's okay. and we remember the victims of 9/11. i really love my sisters. most of the time. [chuckling] aren't we in a good mood, ladies? we are. oh, these are my sisters. announcer: the jordan girls are all in a good mood today naturally. you can find your good mood with sam-e complete from naturemade. and we actually get along.

oh, we didn't always. but we do now. sam-e is a naturally occurring molecule in your body that can run low due to poor diet or age, causing you to feel moody and irritable. with sam-e complete taken daily you can replenish your natural sam-e levels. so, what's new? sarah and i are having these fashion issues. she keeps putting these outfits together. she thinks i'm the enemy. announcer: visit sam-e.com. take our mood quiz to see if sam-e complete is right for you. discover how easy it is to stop sweating the small stuff and restore your good mood in as little as 7 to 14 days. she'll have the tuna. [laughter] what's your good mood? find out with sam-e complete from naturemade. do i always order the tuna? yep. naturemade. another way to fuel your greatness. sfx: chear that?can shaking that's the sound of people saving. saving money, saving time, and saving for the future. regions makes it simple - starting with lifegreen checking and savings - featuring free convenient e-services,

up to a $250 annual savings account bonus and a free personal savings review. so make the switch today - and get into the rhythm of saving. regions - it's time to expect more.

>> if you go this route, what you're doing is setting up a kangaroo court wherein you frankly ought to just base the whole thing on media headlines, with all due respect to headlines, or just base it on opponents' accusations. >> well, the south carolina gop issued a reprimand against him in june, but this vote takes it one step further. joe wilson has been all over the headlines after his outburst at the president's health care speech. so what it's it like for other people named joe wilson? how about the joe wilson campaigning in a local election. here is washington affiliate kcpq. >> it ain't so, joe. i'm the real joe wilson.

>> reporter: this joe wilson shares basically nothing with the south carolina republican wilson of the same name. he's nonpart son, running for superior court judge position two, and health care is not exactly a major issue in his campaign. >> i'm just going to say i'm not joe wilson from nk south carolina trying to steel the boeing company or call names to the president. i'm not joe wilson the ambassador. i'm just joe wilson running for judge. >> but take a look at his facebook page and this not so average joe has gained a whole new pol following and not one he's asked for. shame on you writes one new friend. way to go on the outburst writes another. but as joe keeps saying -- >> i'm not ambassador joe wilson and i'm not the joe wilson from south carolina. i'm just joe wilson running for judge. >> reporter: to make matters worse, this event in everett is the kickoff of his campaign. and even his supporters were having a laugh at the mix-up.

>> believe it or not, i see a joe wilson, a congressman from south carolina, calling the president a liar and i thought, how do we make this kind of stuff up? >> reporter: don't shed a tear for these two joes not making a right. because this mr. wilson is determined to make a name for himself. >> i think that any exposure for a judge race is good. >> well, he's looking at it in a positive way, anyway. that was our seattle affiliate kcpq. wilson is running against four other candidates. a pizza shop has to pay for a cook's weight loss surgery so that another operation on a work-related back injury will work. it's from an indiana appeals court. the employee is 340 pounds. the shop's attorney asked the court to hear the case again. an offshoot of the acla say that

bosses may think twice of hiring people with health conditions because of this. >> some members of a group were caught on tape.

in just a few minutes in new york, the first of the 9/11 memorial ceremonies will begin. president obama has also declared today a national day of service in honor of the victims. now, there will be thousands of volunteer projects going on around the country. and you can see all the people lined up with their umbrellas on this rainy day because they want to pay their respects to the people who lost their lives in the horrible attacks. the shuttle "discovery" will try to land at florida's kennedy space center around 6:00 p.m. eastern. if bad weather prevents that like it did yesterday, they're going to head for edwards air force base over in california. the seven-member crew is

returning from a 14-day mission at the space station. just one dose of a new swine flu vaccine may be strong enough to protect adults. now, a study by u.s. and australian researchers says that up to 96% of adults should be protected by a singleñ dose. the scientists did think that adults might think two. a quick check of some of the headlines. minutes past the hour. good among. i'm robin meade. it was eight years ago today, you probably remember exactly where you were, when you heard that planes had crashed into the twin towers in new york. today, nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 are being honored. the service in new york will start in just a few minutes. you can see -- is that vice president joe biden coming down the ramp to the spot with mayor of new york city michael bloomberg, holding their umbrellas along with the rest of people going to the ground zero

site today. in less than an hour the ceremony will begin at the pentagon for the 184 people killed there. president obama and defense secretary robert gates will will meet with people's family members. former secretary of state colin powell will be at the memorial in shanksville, pennsylvania. by the way, we're going to show you live pictures all throughout the morning if we want to check in on the new york city, the ground zero camera here really quickly. one second here. just to see it once again, this doesn't officially obviously begin until the moment of silence, which will be around 8:46 a.m., the moment of, and obviously people are there because they want to remember the victims and the heroes of that day. other news today. a well-known community you group is accused of telling a couple how to set up a prostitution ring and avoid the irs at the same time? a.c.o.r.n. says it has fired two baltimore employees caught on tape allegedly giving advice to

a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute. correspondent richard lui, wow. >> yeah. >> it's not the first time we've heard about a.c.o.r.n. >> no, it's not, especially with some amazing new details. this group actually made headlines last year when some conservatives accused them of voter registration fraught to push the election in then-senator obama's favor. now, just two days ago again, florida police arresting six a.c.o.r.n. workers suspected of submitting false information on voter registration cards in florida. 11 accused in that case. a.c.o.r.n. officials triggered that investigation thel themselves after noticing irregularities in forms they had received. >> it's important that the public understands it had nothing to do with voting. these people did not vote. they didn't go to the polls to vote. they weren't sent any absentee ballots. these were simply lists of people who they say, you know, basically these hourly workers who were saying they were recruiting to register to vote. >> robin, a.c.o.r.n. officials say that this case in florida

proves that the group is committed to an honest process. >> ripchard, tell us about the activists posing as a pimp and prostitute in the video. >> conservative actor and activist posed as the pimp and prostitute. the video was originally posted on the website biggovernment.com. on the site, giles wrote -- >> ann a.c.o.r.n. says the two unsuccessfully performed such stunts at different offices. cnn tried to reach o'keefe and giles. o'keefe wasn't available and giles canceled her interview. a teenager was trapped upside down for 20 hours after his truck crashed 50 feet down an embankment. look at the video here.

wow. the teen's parents called police after he didn't come home. authorities were able to track his cell phone to figure out where he was. >> i just know that the good lord was watching over that young man. all he did was help me to find him and get him where he needed to be, to help. >> the teen went to the hospital with serious injuries. authorities do not think that drugs or alcohol were involved. nine women thought that they were in the middle of a reality show. but then they were with rescued by police. turkish media say the women thought they were being filmed for a show kind of like "big brother," but it was a website where subscribers saw pictures of them and voted on their favorite. a lawyer for the show's organizer says that the women were not held against their will. what is wrong with people? 35 minutes past the hour. we can see in our live looks here if we still have them from new york city and from

washington, d.c., it is a cloudy, dreary day. maybe appropriate on this eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. people there are wearing ponchos, kind of trying to hold off the rain and making sure it doesn't dampen the pictures of their loved ones as they remember all the people who died, the nearly 3,000 who died on this day. there's a picture outside the white house on the eighth anniversary of 9/11. now, the rain stretches down obviously different parts of the east coast, bob. >> yeah. weather-wise, today is the exact opposite of what it was eight years ago today. it was pure blue sky, a gorgeous day weather-wise. exact opposite today. let me show you what's happening. here' the big picture, low pressure center right off the coast of jersey. it's been here for four days, hasn't moved at all. now it's picking up a little bit of strength and throwing heavy downpours through new jersey towards philly and wrapping it around maryland, baltimore and d.c. let me take you out to the tropics. we're still in hurricane season. here's what it looks like with

hurricane fred. not as strong as it was just two days ago, continues to fall part a little bit. talking about a category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds around 85 miles per hour. still anticipating this thing to turn into a tropical storm by tomorrow and then basically fall apart over the next four to five days. it won't affect anybody. good news there. back to the weather across jersey, philadelphia, delaware, tornado watch out there, south jersey towards delaware. that goes until noon. looking at individual thunderstorms as they rotate overhead above an area of low pressure off the coast, none of them are rotating right now. good news, no tornado warnings but the watch is in effect until noon because some of those might produce a brief tornado or two. we'll be watching that. you can see showers, heavier downpours, up toward sandy hook and basically drying out a touch. the rain extends all the way back to long island, look at this one getting in toward lower brooklyn. live in providence, rhode island, here's what it looks like, same scenario, breezy, gray skies. heaviest rain just fall just to

your south. more in a half hour. >> thanks. as we mentioned, the ceremonies are about to start in a few minutes here. in new york city to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks. eight years ago this morning. you can see people bringing pictures of their loved ones. we'll take you live to new york city as the ceremony begins. smoo carol, when you replaced casual friday with nordic tuesday, was it really for fun, or to save money on heat?, why? don't you think nordic tuesday is fun? oh no, it's fun... you know, if you are trying to cut costs, fedex can help. we've got express options, fast ground and freight service-- you can save money and keep the heat on. great idea. that is a great idea. well, if nordic tuesday wasn't so much fun., (announcer) we understand. you need to save money. fedex are working from the road using a mifi-- a mobile hotspot that provides up to five shared wi-fi connections.

two are downloading the final final revised final presentation. - one just got an email. - woman: what?! hmph. it's being revised again. the copilot is on mapquest. and tom is streaming meeting psych-up music - from meltedmetal.com. - ( heavy metal music playing ) that's happening now with the new mifi from sprint-- p) the mobile hotspot that fits in your pocket. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearinpl and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

right now near the site of the world trade center in new york city, a memorial is getting

under way for the more than 2500 victims who were killed there exactly eight years ago today. in a few minutes at the white house, president obama an the first lady will also observe a moment of silence. we will show you live pictures from the memorials. we will also bring you headlines throughout the day. part of me, if we go back and forth here, want to show you what's going on there out of respect for the victims and we'll also bring you headlines. top democrats may oppose sening more troops to afghanistan. the front where troops went after the attacks of 9/11. senator karl levin says he wants afghan security forces beefed up first. house speaker nancy pelosi says that the president will face opposition if he wants to build up u.s. strength in the country. >> i don't think there's a great deal of support for sending more troops to afghanistan in the congress. >> u.s. military officials have

repeatedly said, though, that the situation in afghanistan is getting worse with and that the u.s. may need more troops there. people who live knee a foreclosed home in malibu say that a bank executive made it her personal party pad! our money expert jennifer westhoven is here. so people were foreclosed out of the house so nobody own the house but maybe the bank. so the bank executive, was it illegal? >> we don't know it's illegal. it does not pass the smell test, you know. it doesn't seem like it's edge ka ethical. a bank executive, what do you think, having parties in a $12 million malibu beach home after its ownerses lost the home to foreclosure. the owners, it's not that they necessarily took on more than they could chew. they were devastated by bernie madoff's massive fraud scheme. here one day they were rich, only to find out the next day that they had been cheated out of everything.

they had to hand over the house. now neighbors tell the "associated press" that the wells fargo executive who was supposed to be overseeing this home in a gated community was throwing parties, staying over, long weekends. wells fargo tells the ap it is conducting a thorough investigation. these are some numbers that will really tell you about the recession's real-life impact on a lot of americans. the poverty rate in the latest poll by the census bureau up to the highest level in 11 years, almost 40 million people are living in poverty in this country according to the latest numbers. plus, job market is in trouble. if you lose your job, it's very hard to keep paying for your health insurance. the number of americans with no coverage is up to the latest official estimate, 46 million people. robin? >> so when we say the economy may be turning around, for the most part the regular folks aren't feeling it. >> they're not feeling it.

in many ways because the job market is so bad, they're still feeling it getting worse even if the economic indicators say we're recovering. >> jennifer, thanks. some big-name record companies are sue you the ellen dezwren russ show for using more than 1,000 songs without permission. many were played when ellen likes to dance through the audience. people love that segment. the suit does not involve her personally. the record companies say they asked the show producers, why didn't you get licensed? and were told we don't roll that way. a show spokesperson says they've been working to resolve the issue. the ceremony to honor 9/11 victims has started at the world trade center site. we will bring you live pictures from the site and we will see how people nationwide remember the tragic day.pr es so we can save on all our game time favorites. and if there is a better price out there, they'll even match it. which means come game time... ...i'm just as ready as he is.

game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart.

just as our hearts return to those that we lost, we also remember all those who spontaneously rushed forward to help. however and whomever they could.

their compassion and selfless acts are etched in our city's history, inspired by what they did it that day, president obama has designated 9/11 as an annually recognized national day of service and remembrance. >> it is 8:46 a.m. eastern, the exact time eight years ago that the first plane struck the north tower of the world trade center in new york city. at ground zero and the white house, which you can see live on your screen, a moment of silence right now is about to begin to honor the victims. i believe the white house already went into a moment of silence. you can hear mayor bloomberg still talking in new york city. all this morning, we will remember those who died that day. we will also remember the heroes and bring you the live pictures from the memorials.

you know, the nfl season got under way, too, but at first honored the relatives of the 9/11 victims, which i thought was a very nice, classy, honorable thing for them to do. >> yeah, it was. it was very moving as well. you know, they brought out the family members being the pittsburgh steelers, of those who died in flight 93, flight 93 you remember crashed just west of pittsburgh. so they brought all the family members out into the center of the field. let's go to that video if we can. speaking of honoring the fallen, the tennessee titans also paid tribute to steve mcnair by putting number 9 on their helmets. then i have to say it was a great game. went to overtime, pittsburgh steelers won on a field goal, 13-10. however, the steelers were stricken by the madden curse. if you are squeamish, i'm urging

you to look away. this is troy polamalu, oh, gosh, a sprained mcl. you can see his knee bend there. out three to six weeks. why is this significant? polamalu was on the cover of madden 2010 this year. since 2002, every player who ever appeared on the cover has either missed games or was bad or ineffective because of injury. >> the madden curse. >> it is real, folks. and the greatest basketball player that ever lived will be honored in the hall of fame today. michael jeffrey jordan brought fans to the game in numbers we had never seen before, bringing the game to a level of artistry that we had never seen before. and it's only fitting today that in his ceremony it will be so popular they had to move it to a bigger venue to accommodate all the people that will be there. and now, lastly, it is time for our true champion. this week it is 13-year-old cancer survivor jody lawrence. lawrence designed the paint job

for carl edwards' car. there's edwards on the crutches. this was unveiled in atlanta earlier this week. there's the car. >> she did a nice job! >> she did a nice job. she was also an honorary pit crew member. honorary pit crew member. she was diagnosed at the age of 11, five days after her mother died. she said the whole experience really boosted her spirit. that's a look at sports. >> thank you. so, the stock market can get confusing if you don't know where to invest, but clark howard tells you where to make money without the hassle. >> i am obsessed with something known as index funds. how can that be? it's a thing. well, it's a good thing for you. what is it anyway? instead of you buying a mutual

fund where someone tries to figure out what to buy, what to sell, you just buy all the big companies in the country, 500 of those. or, the total stock market. which is considered to be thousands of companies. the advantage? well, you don't need a brainiac to figure out what to buy and sell. here's the big news. you report from "the wall street journal" for bonds, 90% of the time, an index fund will beat a manager. for stocks, 60% of the time. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to pack a punch in your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. and to new york right now.

this is a look at the september 11th memorial, right now, eight years to the moment, basically. .

because i think it was such a horrible thing, as if it were just yesterday. >> good morning, robin. gray skies over new york. lots of wind and rain. we have a delay in philadelphia and new york. philadelphia, about a four-hour delay. rest of the day, new york city metro, laguardia, 66-minute delay. philadelphia, you have about a four-hour delay because of the rain and wind. d.c. metro, haven't seen a delay yet. those will pop up. in dallas, you will see showers and thunderstorms. about an hour delay there. a bank robber who police believe has hit 11 banks may want more money. police say he doesn't even hide his face during the crimes.

mike galanos spoke with a former bank robber to get some insight. >> no stock and cap. he's not trying to hide himself. is this a guy who loves the attention? >> i don't know that he loves the attention. he certainly loves the drama of bank robbery. it's important to remember, it's interesting that you started off talking about public enemies, because i watched public enemies when it came out. i'm 20 years away from robbing banks. one thing i would say, when watching that movie, i was reminded of the thrill of the bank robbery. like i said, i'm 20 years away, have a 3-year-old child, i'm completely reformed. but i recalled the adrenaline rush. there's a reason why every hollywood hunk has played a bank robber. it's a sexy crime. when i committed it, i felt

powerful. >> wow. get the latest on this story on "prime news" starting at 5:00 p.m. eastern. it was raining spam in seattle because of the inaugural spam smash-up. several wearing ponchos took a hammer to it. a locate marketing agency wanted to raise awareness about spam and other junk e-mail. two atlanta area teacher rs accused of solititting prostitutes. the two are dating. one is a band teacher. the other is a chors teacher. they offered 200 bucks to two women who were undercover cops. the numbers are still haunting.

nearly 3,000 people killed at the world trade center. 184 at the pentagon, 40 in pennsylvania. we remember them today.

guy bah, alicia -- >> you can see the looks on people's faces here, remembering the loved ones they lost. this is the ceremony underway in a site adjacent to ground zero. we're going to tell you what else many people are doing to mark the eight anniversary of the terror attacks. also, a man who spent nearly 30 years in jail for a crime he did not commit is a free man this morning.

now, he has something important he wants to do. the gender test results on a champion runner are back and the result is kind of complicated. she may be allowed to keep her title either way. want to say good morning. hope you're doing well today and thank you so much for choosing us as your source for morning news. thousands are at ground zero in new york to remember the 9/11 attacks. it is a blustery and windy, rainy day. you can see people there in their ponchos and their raincoats. we're seeing the families carrying the photos any way of their loved ones who they lost eight years ago today. we had one moment of silence already in the last hour. that marked the moment the first plane hit. another will come in about a minute here to mark the time when the second plane was hit, or the second plane hit. new york's mayor michael bloomberg led the first moment of silence and talked about how

the construction of the 9/11 memorial was going and asked about whether it would be completed on schedule. >> the most important things when we're building here is number one, do it safely. i do not want to lose one life. no building is worst losing a life. i don't care how long it takes. number two, i want to make sure the people look back and say, we built the right thing. that's more important than any schedule. >> now the bells are ringing on this september 11th observance. you're seeing new york city right now. we'll also see shots from pennsylvania and from washington, d.c. a moment of silence at the pentagon will be in about 30 minutes here. the president and defense secretary, robert gates, will also speak. at 10:00 a.m. eastern, a moment of silence in pennsylvania. this is a moment of silence in

new york city. if you want to pause for a second here. okay. and that moment of silence has now come to an end and joe biden is beginning to speak. do we want to stay on his comments or check back in? we'll stay on his comments. >> in which we remember most when we come to this site. in our joys and in our sorrows, we know we belong to one another. tell me about despair. yours, and i will tell you mine, wrote the poet mary oliver. meanwhile, the world goes on. meanwhile, the sun and the clear

pebbles of rain are moving across the landscapes, over the pairries and deep trees, the mountains and rivers. meanwhile, the wild geese high in the blue air are heading home again. whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination. calls itself to you like a wild goose, harsh and exciting. over and over, announcing your place in the family of things. >> vice president joe biden this morning and that is part of the remembrance going on at a site adjacent to ground zero. we will come back to that. meanwhile, some other stories here. a well-known community group is accused of telling a couple how to set up a prostitution ring meanwhile avoiding the irs.

they have fired two for allegedly giving advice to a couple. on the tape, they tell the woman, list your occupation as a performance artist. >> your business is a performance artist. which you are. okay? so you're not lying. you're a performing artist. so stop saying -- >> got it. >> okay. >> the tape was made by two activists. they have been at the center of controversy over voter registration. the group says the film makers in this case tried the same stunt many times before. coming up, you will hear details on the activists who posed at a pimp and a prostitute. monday, the president will talk about what is being done to ease the financial crisis and

how to keep the united states from going into it again. but timothy geithner warns there is no quick fix. >> i think the u.s. financial system today is in a stronger state that it was three months ago, six months ago, nine months ago and on the eve of this recession. it's going to take longer to do it because we're going to do it right. >> it's not clear if president obama will announce new policies. scientists first thought adults would need two swine flu shots, but they should be protected with a single dose and it kicks in within ten days. this is along with the regular flu shot. when we see the live p pictures of the memorial services going on in new york city, it is obvious that it is a dark day, not only in people's

minds, in their memories, but also a rainy, just a dark day weatherwise. >> exact opposite of eight years ago. it was just pure blue skies. today, the opposite. let me show you what's happening now. we have a tornado watch just south of new york city, but including a good chunk of jersey and delaware. we have low pressure just off the jersey shore. the rain is getting into philadelphia, towards redding. then wrapping down in towards northern parts of maryland. also towards d.c., too. it's going to last for the morning. look at the tornado watch, it including the delaware bay. basically just squall lines c e coming. we have a lot of beach erosion, too. showers going all the way down long island, toward it is bronx,

manhattan. light showers in atlanta, birmingh birmingham, mississippi as well. live to new york city once again, i want to show you the forecast. winds gusting between 25 and 30 miles per hour. heavy rain off and on. more on that in about a half an hour. >> thank you. all morning, we are thinking about the people who died on september 11th, 2001. eight years ago this morning. we're going to be talking about how the attacks are still killing people eight years later. eight years later. rogaine?

i'm just a skeptic so i don't necessarily believe that anything is going to work but i was like, hey, this actually works. (announcer) only rogaine foam is shown to regrow hair in 85% of guys. i'll check it out and i'm like, nice., (announcer) rogain foam. stop losing. start gaining. - even the t.g.i. friday's potato skins. - yes! - guys, here you go. - yes! with unbeatable prices on t.g.i. friday's appetizers-- game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. should we order nda blossom, panda moon... how about chinese at home with new wanchai ferry?, you can make it in just 14 minutes mmmh, orange chicken. great. i didn't feel like going out anyway (announcer) wanchai ferry. restaurant quality chinese

and my father, i will never forget the man who made me the person i am today. always searching within for his guidance and advice, my best

friend, my dad, my pal. the commander of the south tower and one of the brave leaders of one of the greatest rescues in history. >> and i am honored -- >> that goes right to your heart when you see the kids of the people who died eight years ago like that young man. this is a live look at the memorial service at ground zero today. families of nearly 3,000 victim rs reading their names aloud. but after all this time, the first responders who sifted through the rubble still feel like they're getting sick. about 800 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, doctors say. they get about 800 cases each month. >> we all sucked in the same air. >> i feel like half the man i was at 9/11.

>> 9,000 first responders and volunteers are suing new york city and building contractors for $1 billion for medical testing and treatment, but the city says it's not at fault. now, let's salute our troops. today's is from a mom who has not just one child in the service, but two sons serving right now. >> good morning, robin. i would like to salute my two sons, curtis and cody. curtis is a prankster. cody is our studious child. he knows more facts than anybody could imagine. i'm so proud of both of you and love you and miss you greatly. >> if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin.

a new scandal for a liberal community group that's been at the center of a voter registration controversy. a.c.o.r.n. fired two employees. they were caught on tape offering advice on how to set up a prostitution ring and cheat the irs. i don't know how this could get worse, but richard lui, they also claim they have like underaged women working for them. >> it doesn't seem real. here are more details about the situation. the video shows the couple asking for advice on how to set up a prostitution ring with underaged girls. despite that, james o'keefe asking as a pump and hannah jils allegedly got surprising advice. on the tape, one employee apparently tells jils to call herself a performing artist and

she can claim some of the girls as depend dants to claim child tax care credits. >> we should point out, the tape is edited and goes to black in some areas. they claim the tape is false. who are the people behind the video then? >> they are conservative activists and film makers. they say the employees did not know they were being taped. yesterday, another representative said the fired employees were not authorized to act on a.c.o.r.n.'s behalf. >> the president gave a speech on health reform. that tape was done sometime in july. and just released today. >> now, law enforcement officials say it may not be admissible as evidence, but quite a story. >> thank you so much.

i'm jennifer westhoven. imagine, you're in your house, someone knocks at your door and says, we're ready to move in. but it's your house. it's a scam becoming pretty common here. you've got to be cautious if you're renting. the better business bureau is putting out a warning that this is happening. people using craigslist and other ads. you check the maps, you may think, well, maybe some of the steps get skipped. you've got to be careful. make them show you the home. because you may find out -- for their house to rent out at all. here are some red flags. for some reason, they can't show you the home.

the rental price is too good to be true. they want a huge amount down. we're just a few minutes away from the opening bell and stocks have been doing pretty good. that's good news. for five days in a row, it rallied 80 points, taking it to its highest close for the year so far. all three at their highest levels for the year so far. looks like we're going to have a slightly higher opening this morning. not every two for one deal sounds good. owners of a pizza joint are shocked they have to foot the bill for one of their employee's surgeries.

richard michael -- >> the rain is not keeping people away from ground zero this morning. as we remember -- the day the attacks happened.

this is the live look at the world trade center. right now, they're reading the victim's names. obviously a long time when you think about the 2500 people who were killed there. in about 20 minutes, people will observe a moment of silent at the pentagon. the music has started. both president obama and defense secretary, robert gates, are at the pentagon in the next hour. a california state lawmaker caught on tape boosting about sex with a mistress. remember, this was our big what yesterday. a statement on his website says quote, my decision to resign is not an admission that i had an affair. my offense was engaging in inappropriate story telling and i regret my language and choice

of words. he resigned wednesday after the tape surfaced. >> it was on tape. >> right, he's saying that he wasn't admitting it on tape. he was telling stories. reports say a south african sprinter is both a man and a woma woman,. >> this test, we've talked about it. now, they say the results are in, but track officials saying we're not going to reveal the test results. well, a british newspaper citing anonymous sources say the results say she has both male and female organs. they said to use quote, caution regarding reports. they say a decision will not come until november, but either

way, she will not likely lose her medal. >> i wonder what it means for the future. the nfl season is here and lots of nfl widows are complaining. the steelers hosting tennessee and oh, my goodness, what a game it was. it was tied at 10 with seconds left. ben roethlisberger hits hines ward, loose iing the ball and n overtime. tennessee gets it. big ben roethlisberger would lead them downfield, steelers win 13-10. but a victim to the dreaded madden course. a high school baseball was was fired after he admitted to hiring strippers for two strippers. he said he made a poor decision, but doesn't think he should lose

his job. that is a look at sports. be your buddy. a teenage boy was convicted of rape and murder in 1983. 26 years later, his name has been cleared and you have to hear the first thing he did when he left prison. index.

how is that? it's a thing. well, it's a good thing for you. what an index fund? instead of you buying an individual stock or mutual fund where some brainiac tries to figure out with wha to buy, what to sell, it's really simple. you just buy all the big companies in the country. 500 of those. or the total stock market, which is generally considered to be thoughs of companies, where you own little places of them. the advantage? well, you don't need someone to figure out what to buy and sell. they just buy everything. so with your charge and management fees, tiny. but here's the big news. a new report from "the wall street journal" finds that for

bonds, 90% of the time will beat a manager. for stocks, 60% of the time. i'm clark howard. for more ways to pack a punch in your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. it's 26 minutes past the hour. for the fliers today, philadelphia, hi, bob. >> philadelphia under the gun. a bad day to travel. i got that area zoomed on in. here's philadelphia, look at the squall coming in off the atlantic. philadelphia, just about a four-hour delay. laguardia, almost a three-hour delay. newark, a delay. boston, atlanta, miami, in the

evening, you will see showers and thunderstorms, too and more delays -- it's morning fog, but have not seen the delays yet. more on that in about a half an hour. some big name record companies are suing the ellen degeneres show apparently for using more than 1,000 songs without permission. it's when ellen dances with the audience. the record companies say they asked the producers why they didn't get licenses and were told by somebody, we don't roll that way. they've been working with the labels, trying to resolve the issue. the markets are about to crank up this morning. we're expecting a relatively flat open. and we remember 9/11 today. and the people who died that day. right now, this is a service at

ground zero that's underway. >> had health problems from ññ working down at ground zero.z! too many have died already. they were here for our country and now, it's time for your country to be here for them. ÷

good morning. the new york stock exchange opened for business. now the stocks are going to start on a flat note it looks like. a live report coming up. eight years ago today, certainly you remember where you were when you first learned that the united states was being attacked. at ground zero, they are remembering the victims of 9/11 and the pentagon memorial is just getting started this half hour. president obama will offer some thoughts in just a few minutes at the pentagon.

colin powell is expected to speak this hour in pennsylvania. just one dose of the new swine flu vaccine may be strong enough to protect you. a study says that up to 94% of adults should be protected with a single dose. scientists at first thought adults might need two. we just learned that the tribute concert to michael jackson is being rescheduled. now, it is set for next june in london. it was scheduled this month in vinenna, but too many performers had scheduling conflicts. those are some of the top stories. good morning to you. thank you for your time. today, we mark the anniversary of the tragic terror attacks of 9/11 and there's a new poll out. it looks at whether americans are concerned still that another attack could happen soon. about a third say they expect an

attack in just the next few weeks. that number is about half though of what it was shortly after 9/11. and a majority of the people in a new cnn research poll are confident that the obama administration can keep the united states safe. prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a former sunday schoolteacher accused of killing an 8-year-old girl. place say he kip napped and murdered sandra cantu. huckabee pleaded not guilty again in a hearing yesterday. the leaders of south carolina's republican party are asking mark sanford to resign. a two-thirds majority voted yesterday to ask him to step down. he's been under fire for having an affair with a woman in argentina and possibly using state planes for personal travel. he says it's unfair to condemn him before a state ethics probe is complete.

>> you're setting up a court where you frankly ought to just base the whole thing on media headlines, with all do respect to media headlines, or just political opponents accusations. >> the south carolina gop issued a reprimand against him in june, but this vote takes that one step further. a florida man spent 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. he was convicted of rape and murder at the age of 15, but dna evidence and new witness testimony prove he is innocent. he walked out yesterday. >> i'm happy to be out. >> what do you think of the job of your attorney? >> i know if it wasn't for her, none of this would have happened. >> do you feel bitter? >> no, not at all. >> the first thing he did was

visit his mom's grave. she started the process of trying to get him exonerated, but died eight years ago. 33 minutes past the hour. i know on fridays, a lot of you, you have your mind on what you're going to do for the weekend and you're just trying to get through the workday, so let's find out how the weather's looking. >> if you can even get to work in philadelphia, new york city, d.c. metro. a tough day to travel. low pressure center, yes, the same one we've been watching. just gradually shifting up towards the north and northwest. now spilling into lower parts of new england. heaviest rain by far, that's around central and eastern parts of pennsylvania, delaware as well. tornado watch, this includes the southern half of jersey, delaware as well. be watching for more coming in.

up towards the jersey shore, heavy downpours coming in. towards new york city, you're getting rain and wind and a lot of rain over the next 48 hours. one to two inches for nyc, possibly more down south. as for the rest of the region, around alabama, light showers and storms, birmingham to atlanta. but heavy downpours are possible throughout texas and that's great news. around houston, you've got the low clouds in place. you desperately need the rainfall. you're going to get some more. i think you're going to pick up some decent rain today through the weekend, so enjoy. you need it. >> thanks. let me take you live to the pentagon where the president is speaking to remember 9/11 victims there. >> at this sacred hour, once more we pause. once more, we pray.

as a nation and as a people. in city streets where our two towers were turned to ashes and dust and a quiet field where a plane fell from the sky and here, where a single stone at this building is still blackened by the fires. we remember with reverence, the lives we lost. we read their names, we press their photos to our hearts. and on this day that marks their death, we recall the beauty and meaning of their lives. men and women and children of every color and every creed. across our nation, for more than a hundred others. they were innocent, harming no one, they went about their daily lives. gone in a terrible instant, they now dwell in the house of the

lord forever. we honor those who gave their lives so others might live, and all the survivors who helped each other rebuild their lives. men and women who gave life to that most simple of rules. i am my brother's keeper. i am my sister's keeper. we pay tribute to a new generation of service. it's our need to set, i choose to serve. once more, we grieve. for you and your families, no words can ease the ache of your heart. no deeds can fill the empty places in your homes. but on this day and all that follow, you may find solace in the memory of those you loved and now that you have the unending support of the american

people. scripture teaches us the hard truth. the mountains may fall and the earth may give way, the flesh and the heart may fail, but after all our suffering, god and grace will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. so it is, so it has been for these families, so it must be for our nation. let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this act. we will never waiver in pursuit of al-qaeda and we will never fall. let us renew or commitment to those who serve in our defense. our men and women and their families and those who protect

us at home. we will do everything in our power to keep america safe. >> president obama speaking this morning at the pentagon. on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this hour. 9/11 obviously rocked the financial world. today, it's a very personal day for the traders on wall street as well. susan lisovicz is in new york and has a look at how wall street is remembering. good morning. >> good morning. well, it is intensely personal on wall street today. you have to remember that the new york stock exchange is just a couple of blocks away from the world trade center. the building literally shook that day. eight years later, i'm still hearing amazing stories of survival from people inside the world trade center just outside or somehow in harm's way. they felt it was their duty to come to work in a war zone the following week to show that america was open for business even though they were grief

stricken from losing so many friends. and remember, the markets plunged when they reopened. the dow lost nearly 1300 points that following week, but the market survived. eight years later, two recessions, and today, we're at the highs of the year despite another major financial crisis. and another sign of resilience. pgp partners will hold its fifth annual charity day. all proceeds go to charity. they lost nearly 700 employees on 9/11. an engineer who survived told me that 9/11 today is more of a celebration now because companies survived, they've grown and continue to do good and that's something worth celebra celebrating. >> that is true resilience there.

as we look at some of the family members. certainly, we think about them today and we also recognize that president obama has said this should also be a day of service to our fellow communities to make this not only a day of murning, but a day where we can help each other much like the heros of that day helped each other as much they could during the attacks. as we remember the attacks, two brothers road cross country on motorcycles to honor their loved one killed on flight 193. ♪ kelly saunder's nature valley. ♪ the place that inspires her to go faster... ♪ and slower. ♪

elk mountains, colorado. where's yours? 100% natural nature valley granola bars. the taste nature intended. - right before kickoff? - here you go, dad. - thanks, buddy. - keeping the tip for our ourselves. announcer: with unbeatable prices on digiorno pizza-- game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. game time costs less at walmart. welcome to progressive. how may i help you? i'm looking for a deal on car insurance. i think i might have a coupon in here. there's an easier way. we've got the "name your price" option. you do? follow me. you tell us how much you want to pay, and we'll build you a policy that fits your budge@e and i still get great coverage? uh-huh.

go ahead. you're the boss. i'm the boss of savings. more like the c.e.o. oh, oh. no glass ceiling. the freedom to name your price. now, that's progressive. call or click today. all right. here's a look at the morning

papers. from "the washington post," d.c. is set to become the battleground again over same-sex marriage. they're closer to legalizing it, but it would have to be reviewed by congress first. "usa today" says the man who threw shus at president bush will get a four bedroom house and a potential bride. and cargo ships could be one of the benefits of global warming. it saves thousands of miles over other routes between asia and northern europe. today, the nation pauses to remember really a horrible day. such a dark day in our history. and also though, it is to honor the victims and the heros of the 9/11 attacks. richard lui's keeping track of the ceremonies happening around the country. >> we'll be following the

coverage in new york, pennsylvania. we'll take you live to the world trade center site where all the victim's names are being read. president obama is at the pentagon for a special ceremony right now. we'll also listen to colin powell speak. then, a big break for authorities. a top taliban leader has been arrested. plus, proctor and gamble makes a drastic move and it could save a lot of folks a lot of money. what tips do you have for maintaining your self-esteem? today's winning answer in our contest comes from i-reporter kara. she says it's not about the clothes, the money, fancy cars, big houses nor other people's feelings towards me. it's about knowing and loving

who you are. you radiate by believes. i'm not you and you are not me, but i can still make my mark in the world. beautiful words, cara. we're going to send you a free, autographed copy of my book. we'll announce a new winner every day during the 9:00 a.m. eastern hour. the grand prize winner will get a trip to atlanta. next week's question, how do you inspire self-confidence in others. send your tips. a lawsuit against jerry's wife is thrown out but of course he's going to make a joke. ♪ um bill--

why is dick butkus here? i hired him to speak. a lot of fortune 500 companies use him. but-- i'm your only employee. we're gonna start using fedex to ship globally-, that means billions of potential customers. we're gonna be huge. good morning! l... you know business is a lot like footb i just don't understand... i'm sorry dick butkus., (announcer) we understand. you want to grow internationally. fedex express upbeat rock ♪ so i could hear myself myseas a ringtone ♪hone ♪ ♪ who knew the store would go and check my credit score ♪ ♪ now all they let me have is this dinosaur ♪ ♪ hello hello hello can anybody hear me? ♪ ♪ i know i know i know i shoulda gone to ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com! ♪ that's where i shoulda gone! coulda got my knowledge on! ♪

♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage. nine women thought they were in the middle of a reality show. look at us. but then, they were rescued by police. turkish media say they thought they were being filmed for a show like "big brother."

a lawyer says the women were not held against their will. a man named joe wilson had his facebook page bombarded by angry people after president obama's speech. the thing is, he's not the common that said, you lie. wilson used his campaign kickoff to set the record straight. >> i'm just going to say, i'm not joe wilson from south carolina trying to steal the boeing company or tell names to the president. i'm just joe wilson, running for judge. >> he said that any exposure is a good thing. the nfl season got underway by first honoring the relatives of 9/11. here's rafer with that video. the victims. >> the victims' family. the steelers did a really nice

job of this, robin. the team had a family members of the passengers who died on flight 93, when the flight crashed just a few miles east of pittsburgh. family members presentation. there they are right there. and then speaking of honoring the fallen, the tennessee titans wore number 9 on their helmets in honor of former quarterback steve mcnair. what a great game it was as the steelers won in overtime on a jeff reed field goal. however, the team was stricken by the madden curse. if you're squeamish, don't look at this. it's hard to see. defensive safety troy polamalu, oh, with his knee bending the other way. a sprained acl. out three to six weeks. he was on the cover of "madden 2010 this year" in the last nine years every player that has ever appeared on this kov has either gotten hurt or played badly because of injury.

the greatest basketball prayer that every lived will be honored in the hall of fame, michael jordan brought fans to the game we've never seen before, doing things on the court wie never seen before. he was an artist on the court and his ceremony today will be so popular they actually had to move it to a bigger venue tar the hall of fame. we're blogging about it, cnn.com/robin. the time for our true champion this week 13-year-old cancer survivor jody lawrence. laurps lawrence designed the paint job for carl edwards' car. the car was unveiled in atlanta. there's edwards on crushes. he broke his foot in a frisbee accident. there's the car. she did a great job. >> she really did. >> she was an honorary pit crew member. she was diagnosed with the disease at 11 years old, five days after her mother passed away, leaving her orphaned. this boosted her spirits.

getting in the car. >> i like that. thank you. movie friday and big differences between the movies coming out today where you can get mr. moviefon's opinion about each and every one. visually st

amazi amazing, but it's probably a little too dark for kids. and maybe not mainstream enough for adults. i fear this is a good movie without an audience. but if you like tim burton's sensibility, i think you're going to like this movie. you should check it out. i'm in. >> you think it has a plot? you think it's worth it? >> i do think it's worth it. it has enough of a plot. the visuals, as you can see, are stunning. yeah, i'm going to check this out if i'm you. it's good. >> can i just tell you that your new set, by the way, if you've never watched this before, this is a new set, maip makes you look professional. >> let's not go crazy. >> okay. exactly. "whiteout" do you like the movie and what did you think of it? >> it starts kate beckon sell, a u.s. marshal stationed in

antarctica and they discover the first-e murder. she's ready to get the heck out of there. now there's a murder, three days to solve it before it goes dark for six months and she's stranded there with the killer. here's the problem, kate stuck in very average movies. this has plot holes the size of polar ice caps and not a particularly good thriller. wait for the dvd on this one. i'm out. >> what about "soroity road"? did i read you couldn't preview this? >> we did get a chance to see it. it's about sorority sisters, they pull a big prank, somebody dies and now trying to cover it up. prison garb doesn't look good on these girls. it's exactly what you would think about it, sex, blood, violence so you know what you're

getting with this movie. so believe it or not, i'm in. >> oh. i should have known. >> thank you. >> mister moviefone, i like your honesty. i appreciate it. >> i'm here to keep it safe for moviegoers. you know about it. >> go back to watching your big screen as he dramatically turns away. turn away. a memorial service is going on right now in shanksville, pennsylvania. it is where united flight 93 crashed into a field eight years ago today. the 40 passengers and crew who died are being honored today as hero heroes. >> for me it's a celebration. it's one of the best ways i know how to honor my brother. and the other 39 passengers and crew. it's very spiritual for me. >> well, that man is honoring his big brother by going on a cross-country motorcycle ride, tracking flight 93's intended path. we'll remember the victims

as well and the family members and the heroes of 9/11 in the upcoming hours on this eighth anniversa anniversary.